|| (Concatenate)

Concatenate two strings to create a longer string The CONCAT function provides alternative syntax for CONCAT and requires at least two arguments.

Syntax

expr1 || expr2

Arguments

Parameter

Description

expr1, expr2

String expressions

Returns

Returns the same type as the argument supplied.

Notes

  • Both values must be strings, and can’t be NULL. If NULLS are expected, use COALESCE.

  • SQream DB removes the trailing spaces from strings by default, which may lead to unexpected results. See the examples for more information.

Examples

For these examples, assume a table named nba, with the following structure:

CREATE TABLE nba
(
   Name text(40),
   Team text(40),
   Number tinyint,
   Position text(2),
   Age tinyint,
   Height text(4),
   Weight real,
   College text(40),
   Salary float
 );

Here’s a peek at the table contents (Download nba.csv):

nba.csv

Name

Team

Number

Position

Age

Height

Weight

College

Salary

Avery Bradley

Boston Celtics

0.0

PG

25.0

6-2

180.0

Texas

7730337.0

Jae Crowder

Boston Celtics

99.0

SF

25.0

6-6

235.0

Marquette

6796117.0

John Holland

Boston Celtics

30.0

SG

27.0

6-5

205.0

Boston University

R.J. Hunter

Boston Celtics

28.0

SG

22.0

6-5

185.0

Georgia State

1148640.0

Jonas Jerebko

Boston Celtics

8.0

PF

29.0

6-10

231.0

5000000.0

Amir Johnson

Boston Celtics

90.0

PF

29.0

6-9

240.0

12000000.0

Jordan Mickey

Boston Celtics

55.0

PF

21.0

6-8

235.0

LSU

1170960.0

Kelly Olynyk

Boston Celtics

41.0

C

25.0

7-0

238.0

Gonzaga

2165160.0

Terry Rozier

Boston Celtics

12.0

PG

22.0

6-2

190.0

Louisville

1824360.0

Concatenate two values

Convert values to string types before concatenation

nba=> SELECT ("Age" :: TEXT(2)) || "Name" FROM nba ORDER BY 1 DESC LIMIT 5;
?column?
----------------
40Tim Duncan
40Kevin Garnett
40Andre Miller
39Vince Carter
39Pablo Prigioni

Concatenate two strings

t=> SELECT 'Hello, this is' || ' nice';
?column?
-------------------
Hello, this is nice

Warning

Trailing spaces are trimmed by default. For example,

t=> SELECT 'Hello, this is ' || 'nice';
?column?
-------------------
Hello, this isnice

This may sometimes lead to an unexpected result. See the example below for a remedy.

Adding spaces

Add a space and concatenate it first to bypass the space trimming issue

nba=> SELECT ("Age" :: TEXT(2) || (' ' || "Name")) FROM nba ORDER BY 1 DESC LIMIT 5;
?column?
-----------------
40 Tim Duncan
40 Kevin Garnett
40 Andre Miller
39 Vince Carter
39 Pablo Prigioni