Name

MID( )

Synopsis

MID(string, position[, length])

This function returns the characters of a given string, starting from the left position specified in the second argument. The first character is numbered 1. You can limit the length of the string retrieved by specifying a limit in the third argument. This function is similar to SUBSTRING( ).

SELECT CONCAT(name_first, ' ', name_last) AS Teacher,
       CONCAT('(', LEFT(home_telephone, 3), ') ',
       MID(home_telephone, 4, 3), '-',
       MID(home_telephone, 7)) AS Telephone
FROM teachers LIMIT 1;
+----------------+----------------+
| Teacher        | Telephone      |
+----------------+----------------+
| Olympia Vernon | (504) 230-1748 |
+----------------+----------------+

This convoluted SQL statement produces the output shown by concatenating the extracted components of the selected teacher’s telephone number with opening and closing parentheses, a dash, and a space.

Get MySQL in a Nutshell now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial