TRIM

Syntax

trim::=

Text description of trim

Purpose

TRIM enables you to trim leading or trailing characters (or both) from a character string. If trim_character or trim_source is a character literal, then you must enclose it in single quotes.

• If you specify LEADING, then Oracle removes any leading characters equal to trim_character.
• If you specify TRAILING, then Oracle removes any trailing characters equal to trim_character.
• If you specify BOTH or none of the three, then Oracle removes leading and trailing characters equal to trim_character.
• If you do not specify trim_character, then the default value is a blank space.
• If you specify only trim_source, then Oracle removes leading and trailing blank spaces.
• The function returns a value with datatype VARCHAR2. The maximum length of the value is the length of trim_source.
• If either trim_source or trim_character is null, then the TRIM function returns null.

Both trim_character and trim_source can be any of the datatypes CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, NVARCHAR2, CLOB, or NCLOB. The string returned is of VARCHAR2 datatype and is in the same character set as trim_source.

Examples

This example trims leading and trailing zeroes from a number:

SELECT TRIM (0 FROM 0009872348900) "TRIM Example"
   FROM DUAL;

TRIM Example
------------
    98723489