Oracle PL/SQL Tutorial/Character String Functions/LTRIM

Ltrim removes a set of characters from the left of a string

LTRIM stands for "left trim." The general format for this function is: LTRIM(string, characters_to_remove)

SQL>
SQL> SELECT LTRIM("...Mitho", ".") FROM dual;
LTRIM
-----
Mitho
SQL>

LTRIM(x [, trim_string]) trim characters from the left of x.

You can supply an optional trim_string that specifies the characters to trim.

If no trim_string is supplied, spaces are trimmed by default.

SQL> SELECT
  2    LTRIM("  Hello ")
  3  FROM dual;
LTRIM(
------
Hello
SQL>

Trim leading and ending letters

SQL>
SQL>
SQL> create table employees(
  2    empno      NUMBER(4)
  3  , ename      VARCHAR2(8)
  4  , init       VARCHAR2(5)
  5  , job        VARCHAR2(8)
  6  , mgr        NUMBER(4)
  7  , bdate      DATE
  8  , msal       NUMBER(6,2)
  9  , comm       NUMBER(6,2)
 10  , deptno     NUMBER(2) ) ;
Table created.
SQL>
SQL>
SQL> insert into employees values(1,"Jason",  "N",  "TRAINER", 2,   date "1965-12-18",  800 , NULL,  10);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(2,"Jerry",  "J",  "SALESREP",3,   date "1966-11-19",  1600, 300,   10);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(3,"Jord",   "T" , "SALESREP",4,   date "1967-10-21",  1700, 500,   20);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(4,"Mary",   "J",  "MANAGER", 5,   date "1968-09-22",  1800, NULL,  20);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(5,"Joe",    "P",  "SALESREP",6,   date "1969-08-23",  1900, 1400,  30);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(6,"Black",  "R",  "MANAGER", 7,   date "1970-07-24",  2000, NULL,  30);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(7,"Red",    "A",  "MANAGER", 8,   date "1971-06-25",  2100, NULL,  40);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(8,"White",  "S",  "TRAINER", 9,   date "1972-05-26",  2200, NULL,  40);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(9,"Yellow", "C",  "DIRECTOR",10,  date "1973-04-27",  2300, NULL,  20);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into employees values(10,"Pink",  "J",  "SALESREP",null,date "1974-03-28",  2400, 0,     30);
1 row created.
SQL>
SQL> select ename
  2  ,      ltrim(ename,"S") as ltrim_s
  3  ,      rtrim(ename,"S") as rtrim_s
  4  from   employees;
ENAME    LTRIM_S  RTRIM_S
-------- -------- --------
Jason    Jason    Jason
Jerry    Jerry    Jerry
Jord     Jord     Jord
Mary     Mary     Mary
Joe      Joe      Joe
Black    Black    Black
Red      Red      Red
White    White    White
Yellow   Yellow   Yellow
Pink     Pink     Pink
10 rows selected.
SQL>
SQL> drop table employees;
Table dropped.
SQL>
SQL>