MySQL8 RPAD() Functions – String Functions

This function helps in adding new characters in the start of string. We can add the one or more characters in the right part of a string.

RPAD() functions returns the string , right-padded with the string padstring to certain length. If string is longer than length, the return value is shortened to length characters.

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RPAD() : Syntax

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RPAD() : Parameter

[table caption=”” width=”100%” colwidth=”15%|15%|15%|55%” colalign=”left|lef|lef|left”]
Name, Required /Optional, Value Type, Description
string , Required, String , The input string.
length, Required, Numeric , The length of new string to be padded.
padstring, Required, String , The new string of characters is to be padded.
[/table]

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RPAD() : Output

[table caption=”” width=”100%” colwidth=”20%|80%” colalign=”left|left”]
Returns,
String, returns a new padded string .
[/table]

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RPAD() : Available from

[table caption=”” width=”100%” colwidth=”25%|75%” colalign=”left|left”]
Version, MySQL 4.0
[/table]

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RPAD() Example 1 : Basic usage

Below is an example of right padding with the asterisk character:

mysql> SELECT RPAD('tutorialmines', 16, '*');
+--------------------------------+
| RPAD('tutorialmines', 16, '*') |
+--------------------------------+
| tutorialmines***               |
+--------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Below is an example of right padding with an exclamation mark:

mysql> SELECT RPAD('Tuts ', 15, '!');
+------------------------+
| RPAD('Tuts ', 15, '!') |
+------------------------+
| Tuts !!!!!!!!!!        |
+------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

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RPAD() Example 2 : Multiple Characters

Below is an example of right padding with the 2 characters:

mysql> SELECT RPAD('tutorialmines', 16, '* !');
+----------------------------------+
| RPAD('tutorialmines', 16, '* !') |
+----------------------------------+
| tutorialmines* !                 |
+----------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

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RPAD() Example 3 : Second Argument is Too Small

If the value of the second argument i.e. length parameter is too small, you might end up with no padding. Below is an example of it.

mysql> SELECT RPAD('tutorialmines', 10, '* ');
+---------------------------------+
| RPAD('tutorialmines', 10, '* ') |
+---------------------------------+
| tutorialmi                      |
+---------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

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RPAD() : Example 4 : NULL arguments

It will return NULL, if any of the argument is NULL. Let’s see the below example.

mysql> SELECT RPAD(NULL, 12, '* ') as output1, 
              RPAD('tuts', NULL, '* ') as output2, 
              RPAD('tuts',5, NULL) as output3;
+---------+---------+---------+
| output1 | output2 | output3 |
+---------+---------+---------+
| NULL    | NULL    | NULL    |
+---------+---------+---------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

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RPAD() : Example 5 : Use in DATABASE

Now, I am selecting data from a database, and padding it on its right side. Let’s see the below example.

mysql> SELECT RPAD(name,12,'*') from tbl_employee;
+-------------------+
| RPAD(name,12,'*') |
+-------------------+
| Jyoti Rani**      |
| Polla*******      |
| Arnav*******      |
| Jeevesh*****      |
| Tom*********      |
+-------------------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

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See all MySQL String functions MySQL 8 String Functions.

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Related articles :BIT_LENGTH(), CHAR() , CHARACTER_LENGTH(), CHAR_LENGTH(), TRIM(), RTRIM(), LPAD() , LEFT().

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PHP Related articles : STR_PAD(), STR_REPEAT(), COUNT_CHARS(), STRSTR() ,STRCSPN() , STRCHR(), SUBSTR(), PHP STRING FUNCTIONS().

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