TRANSLATE function

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            |
+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| [e-mail]                      | Cum.accumsan.com                      |
| [e-mail]        | lorem.ipsum.Vestibulumante.com        |
| [e-mail]  | non.justo.Proin.ametconsectetuer.edu  |
| [e-mail] | non.ante.bibendum.porttitortellus.org |
| [e-mail]                | eros.blanditatnisi.org                |
| [e-mail]                        | augue.Donec.ca                        |
| [e-mail]                 | cursus.pedeacurna.edu                 |
| [e-mail]                           | at.Duis.com                           |
| [e-mail]            | quam.facilisisvitaeorci.ca            |
| [e-mail]                     | 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       |
+----------------+---------------+