MySQL RPAD() Function

The MySQL RPAD() function is used to add padding to the right side of the string until it reaches the desired length.

Syntax

Following is the syntax of MySQL RPAD() function −

RPAD(str,len,padstr)

Parameters

Following are the parameters of this function −

• str is the original string to which you need to add the padding.

• len is the desired length of the string up to which you need to add the padding.

• padstr is the string you need to use as padding.

Return Value

This function returns a new string padded on the right with the specified padding string to reach the specified length.

Example

In the following example, we are using the RPAD() function to add dollar signs ('$') as padding to the right of the string 'Tutorialspoint' until it reaches a length of 25 −

SELECT RPAD('Tutorialspoint', 25,'$');

Following is the output of the above code −

Example

You can also use RPAD() to add padding to numerical values, as shown in the following example −

SELECT RPAD(22556, 30,'%%@');

The output obtained is as follows −

Example

The padding string can also be a number as shown below −

SELECT RPAD('Tutorialspoint', 30, 0);

We get the output as follows −

Example

If the original string is longer than the given length, it is shortened to match the desired length −

SELECT RPAD('Tutorialspoint', 5, '*' );

Following is the output of the above code −

Example

If any of the arguments passed to this function is NULL, it returns NULL −

SELECT RPAD('Tutorialspoint', 25, NULL);

The result produced is as shown below −

Example

You can also use this function to add padding on the right side of the values of a column in a table.

Let us create a table named "PLAYERS" and insert records into it using CREATE and INSERT statements as shown below −

CREATE TABLE PLAYERS(
   ID INT,
   First_Name VARCHAR(255),
   Last_Name VARCHAR(255),
   Date_Of_Birth date,
   Place_Of_Birth VARCHAR(255),
   Country VARCHAR(255),
   PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

Now, let us insert records into it using the INSERT statement −

INSERT INTO PLAYERS VALUES
(1, 'Shikhar', 'Dhawan', DATE('1981-12-05'), 'Delhi', 'India'),
(2, 'Jonathan', 'Trott', DATE('1981-04-22'), 'CapeTown', 'SouthAfrica'),
(3, 'Kumara', 'Sangakkara', DATE('1977-10-27'), 'Matale', 'Srilanka'),
(4, 'Virat', 'Kohli', DATE('1988-11-05'), 'Delhi', 'India'),
(5, 'Rohit', 'Sharma', DATE('1987-04-30'), 'Nagpur', 'India'),
(6, 'James', 'Anderson', DATE('1982-06-30'), 'Burnley', 'England');

The PLAYERS table obtained is as follows −

Following query add the string **---** as padding to the entities in the column FIRST_NAME and maintains a consistent length of 25 characters. −

SELECT ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Country, RPAD(First_Name, 25, '**---**') as RESULT 
FROM PLAYERS;

After executing the above code, we get the following output −