SQL LTRIM Function Example | LTRIM In MySQL And SQL Server

SQL LTRIM() is an inbuilt function that is used for removing all the leading whitespaces or specified characters from the string, i.e. from the left-hand side of the string. In this tutorial, you will learn how to use a MySQL and SQL Server LTRIM() function to remove leading blanks from a string. Oracle/PLSQL LTRIM function removes all specified characters from the left-hand side of a string.

SQL LTRIM Function

The LTRIM() function returns the string after removing leading blanks.

The following shows the syntax of the LTRIM() function.

SELECT LTRIM (input_string, [trim_string])

PARAMETERS

Input_string: It is the string from where the characters have to be removed from the left-hand side.

Trim_string: It is completely optional. It is mainly used for specifying the characters to be removed. If this parameter is omitted, then all the leading spaces will be removed.

Examples of trim() function in SQL

Query 1

SELECT LTRIM (‘    SQL’);

Output

SQL

Here all the leading spaces are removed from the string.

Query 2

SELECT LTRIM (‘000123’, ‘0’);

Output

123

As Trim_string was specified as 0. So, all leading 0 were removed from the string.

Query 3

SELECT LTRIM (‘00012300’, ‘0’);

Output

12300

As Trim_string was specified as 0. So, all leading 0 were removed from the string but not the trailing zeroes because the function used here was LTRIM which removes only the leading zeroes.

Query 4

SELECT LTRIM (‘2145AppDividend’, ‘012345’);

Output

AppDividend

In the above example, all combinations of 0 to 5 are listed. By doing this, all the order of the leading numbers from the string will be removed.

Query 5

SELECT LTRIM (‘aabbabcSQLabc’, ‘abc’);

Output

SQLabc

In the above example, ‘abc’ is declared as Trim_string. So, ‘a,’ ‘b,’ ‘c’ is considered as an individual character. So, all leading characters of ‘abc’ are removed from the string.

Above were the common examples to make you clear how the LTRIM function works.

Let’s apply this function to a table.

Table: Employee

Emp_id	Emp_name	City	State	Salary
#101	Rohit	Patna	Bihar	30000
#201	Shivam	Jalandhar	Punjab	20000
#301	Karan	Allahabad	Uttar Pradesh	40000
#401	Suraj	Kolkata	West Bengal	60000
#501	Akash	Vizag	Andhra Pradesh	70000

 

Previously, in the employee table, ‘#’ was added before the emp_id. Now we want to remove this character from the emp_id and display only the number. So, to do this following query has to be written.

Query

Select LTRIM (Emp_id, ‘#’) AS Emp_id, Emp_name, City, State, Salary 
from Employee;

Output

Emp_id	Emp_name	City	State	Salary
101	Rohit	Patna	Bihar	30000
201	Shivam	Jalandhar	Punjab	20000
301	Karan	Allahabad	Uttar Pradesh	40000
401	Suraj	Kolkata	West Bengal	60000
501	Akash	Vizag	Andhra Pradesh	70000

 

Here, you can see that the new table is created by removing leading ‘#’ unique character from the Emp_id.

LTRIM() Function in SQL Server

See the following example in SQL Server.

Query

SELECT  LTRIM('   AppDividend Uses Cloud Hosting') result;

Output

result
----------------------------
SQL Server LTRIM Function
 
(1 row affected)

LTRIM() Function in MySQL

The function works onwards from  MySQL 4.0. See the example in MySQL.

Query

SELECT LTRIM("     MySQL LTRIM() Tutorial") AS LeftTrimmedString;

Output

MySQL LTRIM() Tutorial

Finally, SQL LTRIM Function Example | LTRIM In MySQL And SQL Server is over.

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