Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the LTRIM() function to remove all leading spaces of a string.

MySQL LTRIM() function overview

The LTRIM() function takes a string argument and returns a new string with all the leading space characters removed.

The following illustrates the syntax of the LTRIM() function:

Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

In this syntax, the str argument is the string that you want to remove all the leading spaces.

Note that to remove the trailing spaces from a string, you use the RTRIM() function. To remove both leading and trailing spaces from a string, you use the TRIM() function.

MySQL LTRIM() function examples

Let’s see some examples of using the LTRIM() function.

A) Using MySQL LTRIM() function with a literal string

The following statement uses the LTRIM() function to remove all leading spaces of the string ' MySQL Tutorial':

Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Here is the output:

Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

B) Using MySQL LTRIM() function to update data in a table

See the following customers table from the sample database.

This example uses the LTRIM() function to remove all leading spaces of the addresses in the addressLine1 column of the customers table.

Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the LTRIM() function to remove all the leading spaces of a string.