Re: trimming a column

On 05/03/2012 06:55 PM, Greg Williamson wrote:
> Michael --
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I need to trim whitespace off of a whole column and replace the existing
>> values with the trimmed ones.
>>
>> This isn't working
>>
>> update mytable set id = trim(id);
>>
>> I'm not sure of the correct syntax. Help appreciated.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>
> The trim function needs to be told what sort of trim to do --
>
> Following the 9.1 manual (you did not specify which version of postgres you are using) try:
>
> UPDATE mytable SET id = trim(both ' ' from id).

Actually not:)
test=> SELECT length(trim(' test '));
length
--------
4

>
> (untested)
>
> See<http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/functions-string.html>
>
> HTH,
>
> Greg Williamson
>

--
Adrian Klaver
adrian(dot)klaver(at)gmail(dot)com