From the course: Oracle Database 12c: Basic SQL

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Using RPAD and LPAD

Using RPAD and LPAD - Oracle Database Tutorial

From the course: Oracle Database 12c: Basic SQL

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Using RPAD and LPAD

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- Using the LPAD and RPAD functions, which are short for left pad and right pad, allows us to buffer strings that will return from the database so that they fill as specified, predetermined lengths. The characters, which fill these strings up to the predetermined required length, can be added to the left part of the string or to the right part of the string. Sounds confusing? Well, it's easier than you think. Let's see it in action. Let's start by selecting the first name column from our employees table. And let's start with an example of the LPAD, or left pad, function. So, we'll specify LPAD, and inside brackets, specify the first underscore name column, followed by the padding length, so 10 characters comma, and, inside quotation marks, the character we want to use for the padding, such as the star character. So running the query as is will return the value for the first name column, but we'll pad it with the star character until the length of the returned valued reaches the number…

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