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Extracts a string containing a specific number of characters from a particular position of a given string.

  • The forms without a len argument return a substring from string str starting at position pos.
  • The forms with a len argument return a substring len characters long from string str, starting at position pos.

It is also possible to use a negative value for pos. In this case, the beginning of the substring is pos characters from the end of the string, rather than the beginning. A negative value may be used for pos in any of the forms of this function. A value of 0 for pos returns an empty string. The position of the first character in the string from which the substring is to be extracted is reckoned as 1.

func.substr(<str>, <pos>, <len>)
func.substr('Quadratically', 5, 6)
┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│ func.substr('Quadratically', 5, 6) │
├────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ratica │
└────────────────────────────────────┘
SUBSTR(<str>, <pos>)
SUBSTR(<str>, <pos>, <len>)
ArgumentsDescription
<str>The main string from where the character to be extracted
<pos>The position (starting from 1) the substring to start at. If negative, counts from the end
<len>The maximum length of the substring to extract

VARCHAR

SELECT
SUBSTRING('Quadratically', 5),
SUBSTR('Quadratically', 5),
MID('Quadratically', 5);
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
substring('quadratically' from 5) │ substring('quadratically' from 5) │ mid('quadratically', 5) │
├───────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ ratically │ ratically │ ratically │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
SELECT
SUBSTRING('Quadratically', 5, 6),
SUBSTR('Quadratically', 5, 6),
MID('Quadratically', 5, 6);
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
substring('quadratically' from 5 for 6) │ substring('quadratically' from 5 for 6) │ mid('quadratically', 5, 6) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────┤
│ ratica │ ratica │ ratica │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘