For a given expression, replaces all occurrences of specified characters with specified substitutes. Existing characters are mapped to replacement characters by their positions in the characters_to_replace and characters_to_substitute arguments. If more characters are specified in the characters_to_replace argument than in the characters_to_substitute argument, the extra characters from the characters_to_replace argument are omitted in the return value.
TRANSLATE is similar to the REPLACE function and the REGEXP_REPLACE function, except that REPLACE substitutes one entire string with another string and REGEXP_REPLACE lets you search a string for a regular expression pattern, while TRANSLATE makes multiple single-character substitutions.
If any argument is null, the return is NULL.
Syntax
TRANSLATE( expression, characters_to_replace, characters_to_substitute )
Arguments
- expression
-
The expression to be translated.
- characters_to_replace
-
A string containing the characters to be replaced.
- characters_to_substitute
-
A string containing the characters to substitute.
Return type
VARCHAR
Examples
To replace several characters in a string, use the following example.
SELECT TRANSLATE('mint tea', 'inea', 'osin');
+-----------+
| translate |
+-----------+
| most tin |
+-----------+The following examples use data from the USERS table in the TICKIT sample database. For more information, see Sample database.
To replace the at sign (@) with a period for all values in a column, use the following example.
SELECT email, TRANSLATE(email, '@', '.') as obfuscated_email
FROM users LIMIT 10;
+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| email | obfuscated_email |
+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Cum@accumsan.com | Cum.accumsan.com |
| lorem.ipsum@Vestibulumante.com | lorem.ipsum.Vestibulumante.com |
| non.justo.Proin@ametconsectetuer.edu | non.justo.Proin.ametconsectetuer.edu |
| non.ante.bibendum@porttitortellus.org | non.ante.bibendum.porttitortellus.org |
| eros@blanditatnisi.org | eros.blanditatnisi.org |
| augue@Donec.ca | augue.Donec.ca |
| cursus@pedeacurna.edu | cursus.pedeacurna.edu |
| at@Duis.com | at.Duis.com |
| quam@facilisisvitaeorci.ca | quam.facilisisvitaeorci.ca |
| mi.lorem@nunc.edu | mi.lorem.nunc.edu |
+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+To replace spaces with underscores and strips out periods for all values in a column, use the following example.
SELECT city, TRANSLATE(city, ' .', '_')
FROM users
WHERE city LIKE 'Sain%' OR city LIKE 'St%'
GROUP BY city
ORDER BY city;
+----------------+---------------+
| city | translate |
+----------------+---------------+
| Saint Albans | Saint_Albans |
| Saint Cloud | Saint_Cloud |
| Saint Joseph | Saint_Joseph |
| Saint Louis | Saint_Louis |
| Saint Paul | Saint_Paul |
| St. George | St_George |
| St. Marys | St_Marys |
| St. Petersburg | St_Petersburg |
| Stafford | Stafford |
| Stamford | Stamford |
| Stanton | Stanton |
| Starkville | Starkville |
| Statesboro | Statesboro |
| Staunton | Staunton |
| Steubenville | Steubenville |
| Stevens Point | Stevens_Point |
| Stillwater | Stillwater |
| Stockton | Stockton |
| Sturgis | Sturgis |
+----------------+---------------+