PostgreSQL – LPAD Function
The LPAD function is used to pad a string on the left side with a specified character or a repeated sequence of characters, until the resulting string reaches a specified length. This function is often used to align strings to a specific width.
The syntax of the LPAD function is as follows:
LPAD(string, length, fill_character)where string is the input string that you want to pad,
and length is the desired length of the resulting padded string,
and fill_character is the character or sequence of characters used to pad the input string.
Here’s an example of how you might use the LPAD function in a SQL query:
SELECT LPAD('Hello', 10, '*') AS padded_string;
In this example, the result would be the string '*****Hello', as the LPAD function added 5 asterisks (*) to the left side of the input string 'Hello' to make it a total of 10 characters long.
You can also pad with spaces or other characters:
SELECT LPAD('123', 5, '0') AS padded_number;In this case, the result would be the string '00123', as the LPAD function added two 0 characters to the left side of the input string '123'.
The LPAD function can be useful when you need to format and align data in your SQL queries or reports.