MySQL RPAD Function

Overview

In this tutorial, we will learn about MySQL RPAD Function with some examples. We can use this function to right pad with padding characters until it reaches the specified length of characters.

Syntax

RPAD() function returns the string with the specified characters as right padded to the original given string until it reaches the length.

The general syntax of the function is as follows:

RPAD(<string>,<length>,<padding>)

Examples

Let’s use the function and check the output of the function in this example.

mysql> SELECT RPAD(‘MySQL’,20,’ *’);

+———————-+
| RPAD(‘MySQL’,20,’*’) |
+———————-+
| MySQL*************** |
+———————-+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

MySQL RPAD Function

In this example, let’s use the Country database table from the world MySQL database.
The column is the Name column that contains the country name. We will right pad the column values
with the * character. We will filter the rows and retrieve only the rows of the Africa continent.

mysql> SELECT Name, RPAD(Name,25,’*’)
-> FROM Country
-> WHERE Continent=’Africa’;

MySQL RPAD Function Database Example