Re: print/return only the first X chars of a varchar column?

Hi,
I think you can use the overlay function to do this.

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/functions-string.html

create table t1 (f char(10));
insert into t1 values ('abcdefg'),('hijklmno');
-- the below cmd will display only the first 2 characters of f.
-- if you want trim the spaces :) after this.
select overlay(f placing ' ' from 3 to 10);

Regards
kalyan

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-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-general-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org
[mailto:pgsql-general-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org] On Behalf Of Kevin Kempter
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 8:19 PM
To: pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: [GENERAL] print/return only the first X chars of a varchar column?

Hi all;

I'm selecting from a table that has a varchar(1000) but I only want to
display
the firs 20 characters. Looked at the string functions in the docs but
nothing
jumped out...

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance