Syntax

CONCAT(str1,str2,...)

Description

Returns the string that results from concatenating the arguments. May have one or more arguments. If all arguments are non-binary strings, the result is a non-binary string. If the arguments include any binary strings, the result is a binary string. A numeric argument is converted to its equivalent binary string form; if you want to avoid that, you can use an explicit type cast, as in this example:

SELECT CONCAT(CAST(int_col AS CHAR), char_col);

CONCAT() returns NULL if any argument is NULL.

A NULL parameter hides all information contained in other parameters from the result. Sometimes this is not desirable; to avoid this, you can:

• Use the CONCAT_WS() function with an empty separator, because that function is NULL-safe.
• Use IFNULL() to turn NULLs into empty strings.

Oracle Mode

Examples

SELECT CONCAT('Ma', 'ria', 'DB');
+---------------------------+
| CONCAT('Ma', 'ria', 'DB') |
+---------------------------+
| MariaDB                   |
+---------------------------+

SELECT CONCAT('Ma', 'ria', NULL, 'DB');
+---------------------------------+
| CONCAT('Ma', 'ria', NULL, 'DB') |
+---------------------------------+
| NULL                            |
+---------------------------------+

SELECT CONCAT(42.0);
+--------------+
| CONCAT(42.0) |
+--------------+
| 42.0         |
+--------------+

Using IFNULL() to handle NULLs:

SELECT CONCAT('The value of @v is: ', IFNULL(@v, ''));
+------------------------------------------------+
| CONCAT('The value of @v is: ', IFNULL(@v, '')) |
+------------------------------------------------+
| The value of @v is:                            |
+------------------------------------------------+

In Oracle mode, from MariaDB 10.3:

SELECT CONCAT('Ma', 'ria', NULL, 'DB');
+---------------------------------+
| CONCAT('Ma', 'ria', NULL, 'DB') |
+---------------------------------+
| MariaDB                         |
+---------------------------------+

See Also

• GROUP_CONCAT()
• Oracle mode from MariaDB 10.3