RPAD

Converts a string to a specified length by adding blanks or characters to the end of the string.

Syntax

RPAD( first_string, length [,second_string] )

Argument	Required/ Optional	Description
first_string	Required	Any string value. The strings you want to change. You can enter any valid expression.
length	Required	Must be a positive integer literal. Specifies the length you want each string to be. When length is a negative number, RPAD returns NULL.
second_string	Optional	Any string value. Passes the string you want to append to the right-side of the first_string values. Enclose the characters you want to add to the end of the string within single quotation marks, for example, 'abc'. This argument is case sensitive. If you omit the second string, the function pads the end of the first string with blanks.

Return Value

String of the specified length.

NULL if a value passed to the function is NULL or if length is a negative number.

Example

The following expression returns the item name with a length of 16 characters, appending the string ‘.’ to the end of each item name:

RPAD( ITEM_NAME, 16, '.')

ITEM_NAME	RETURN VALUE
Flashlight	Flashlight......
Compass	Compass.........
Regulator System	Regulator System
Safety Knife	Safety Knife....

RPAD counts the length from left to right. So, if the first string is longer than the length, RPAD truncates the string from right to left. For example, RPAD(‘alphabetical’, 5, ‘x’) would return the string ‘alpha’. RPAD uses a partial part of the second_string when necessary.

The following expression returns the item name with a length of 16 characters, appending the string ‘*..*’ to the end of each item name:

RPAD( ITEM_NAME, 16, '*..*' )

ITEM_NAME	RETURN VALUE
Flashlight	Flashlight..*.
Compass	Compass....*
Regulator System	Regulator System
Safety Knife	Safety Knife..

The following expression shows how RPAD handles negative values for the length argument for each row in the ITEM_NAME column:

RPAD( ITEM_NAME, -5, '.')

ITEM_NAME	RETURN VALUE
Flashlight	NULL
Compass	NULL
Regulator System	NULL