MariaDB RPAD() Function

The MariaDB RPAD() function right pads the given string to the specified length.

If you want to left pad a string, use the LPAD() function.

MariaDB RPAD() Syntax

Here is the syntax of the MariaDB RPAD() function:

RPAD(str, len[, padstr])

Parameters

str

Required. The string to be padded.

len

Required. The length to reach.

padstr

Optional. The string to be used to right pad the original string. The default is a space.

Return value

The RPAD() function right pads the specified string to the specified length and returns the padded string.

If len is less than the length of the original string str, str will be truncated to the length of len.

If len is negative, the RPAD() function will return NULL.

If any of the arguments is NULL, the RPAD() function will return NULL.

MariaDB RPAD() Examples

Basic example

This statement shows the basic usage of the MariaDB RPAD() function:

SELECT
    RPAD('oh', 10),
    RPAD('oh', 10, 'h'),
    RPAD('oh', 1, 'h'),
    RPAD('oh', -1, 'h'),
    RPAD('Hello', 13, 'World'),
    RPAD('Hello', 13, NULL)\G

Output:

            RPAD('oh', 10): oh
       RPAD('oh', 10, 'h'): ohhhhhhhhh
        RPAD('oh', 1, 'h'): o
       RPAD('oh', -1, 'h'): NULL
RPAD('Hello', 13, 'World'): HelloWorldWor
   RPAD('Hello', 13, NULL): NULL

Oracle mode

In Oracle mode, MariaDB RPAD() returns NULL instead of an empty string.

In the default default mode, the following statement returns an empty string:

SELECT RPAD('', 0);

Output:

+-------------+
| RPAD('', 0) |
+-------------+
|             |
+-------------+

Now let’s switch to Oracle mode:

SET SQL_MODE=ORACLE;

and run the code again:

SELECT RPAD('', 0);

Output:

+-------------+
| RPAD('', 0) |
+-------------+
| NULL        |
+-------------+

Conclusion

The MariaDB RPAD() function right pads the specified string to the specified length.