For this, use the LEFT() method, which returns a specified number of characters from the left of the string.
Let us first create a table −
mysql> create table DemoTable -> ( -> FirstName varchar(100) -> ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.96 sec)
Insert some records in the table using insert command −
mysql> insert into DemoTable values('Sam'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec) mysql> insert into DemoTable values('Mike'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec) mysql> insert into DemoTable values('David'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.14 sec)
Display all records from the table using select statement −
mysql> select *from DemoTable;
Output
This will produce the following output −
+-----------+ | FirstName | +-----------+ | Sam | | Mike | | David | +-----------+ 3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Following is the query to remove all except the first character of a string −
mysql> update DemoTable set FirstName=left(FirstName,1); Query OK, 3 rows affected (0.13 sec) Rows matched: 3 Changed: 3 Warnings: 0
Let us check the table records once again −
mysql> select *from DemoTable;
Output
This will produce the following output −
+-----------+ | FirstName | +-----------+ | S | | M | | D | +-----------+ 3 rows in set (0.00 sec)