String functions in SQL are used to manipulate and perform operations on character strings. This section will cover common string functions, their syntax, and examples of how to use them.
The CONCAT function is used to concatenate two or more strings together.
CONCAT(string1, string2, ...);Example
Concatenate first name and last name into a full name:
SELECT CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) AS full_name
FROM employees;The SUBSTRING function extracts a substring from a string.
SUBSTRING(string, start_position,length);- string: The source string from which the substring will be extracted.
- start_position: The starting position from which to extract the substring.
- length: Optional. The number of characters to extract.
Example
Extract the first three characters of the product name:
SELECT SUBSTRING(productname, 1,3) AS short_name
FROM products;The UPPER function converts a string to uppercase, while the LOWER function converts a string to lowercase.
UPPER(string);
LOWER(string);Example
Convert the last name to uppercase and first name to lowercase:
SELECT UPPER(lastname) AS last_name_upper, LOWER(firstname) AS first_name_lower
FROM employees;The LENGTH function returns the length of a string.
LENGTH(string);Example
Calculate the length of the email addresses:
SELECT email, LENGTH(email) AS email_length
FROM customers;The TRIM function removes leading and trailing spaces from a string.
TRIM([LEADING | TRAILING | BOTH] trim_character FROM string);Example
Remove leading and trailing spaces from the address:
SELECT TRIM(address) AS cleaned_address
FROM customers;The REPLACE function replaces occurrences of a specified string with another string.
REPLACE(string, old_substring, new_substring);Example
Replace 'Street' with 'St.' in the address:
SELECT REPLACE(address, 'Street', 'St.') AS modified_address
FROM customers;Selectonly thefirstcharacter from allemployeesfirst name- Using the
resultsfrom the exercise aboveconcatenatethefirst letterwith thelastname, this must have a space inbetween.