SQL TRANSLATE() function

TRANSLATE() function

The SQL TRANSLATE() function replaces a sequence of characters in a string with another sequence of characters. The function replaces a single character at a time.

Syntax:

TRANSLATE(char_value USING translation_name)

Parameters:

DB2 Syntax:

TRANSLATE(string-expression,to-string,from-string,pad)

PostgreSQL Syntax:

TRANSLATE(string text, from text, to text)

Oracle Syntax:

    TRANSLATE(char_value USING {CHAR_CS | NCHAR_CS})

Example:

To get the string where all occurrences of 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' will be replaced with corresponding characters in the string 'defghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabc', the following SQL statement can be used:

SQL Code:

SELECT TRANSLATE ( 'this is my string', 
'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz', 
'defghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabc' ) 
encode_string 
FROM dual ;

Here, "encode_string" is an alias which will come as a column heading to the output.

SQL TRANSLATE() function with numeric values

To get a new string from the string +91 25-2469782464 where all occurrences of '0123456789-+' will be replaced with corresponding characters in the string '6789012345+-' , the following SQL statement can be used:

SQL Code:

SELECT TRANSLATE( '+91 25-2469782464', 
'0123456789-+','6789012345+-' ) 
encode_number 
FROM dual;

Here, "encode_number" is an alias which will come as a column heading to the output.

Output:

ENCODE_NUMBER
-----------------
-57 81+8025348020

SQL TRANSLATE() function with character values

Sample table: agents

To get a new string from agent_name where all occurrences of 'abcdefghijk' will be replaced with corresponding characters in the string '@#$%^&*()}]' from the agent table, the following SQL statement can be used:

SQL Code:

SELECT TRANSLATE(agent_name,'abcdefghijk', 
'@#$%^&*()}]' )
FROM agents;

Output:

TRANSLATE(AGENT_NAME,'ABCDEFGHIJK','@#$%^&*()}]')
--------------------------------------------------
Al^x
Su##@[email protected]
B^n}@m)n
[email protected]@sun%@r
Al&or%
[email protected]) [email protected]
[email protected]@][email protected]
Lu$)%@
An%^rson
Mu]^s(
M$D^n
[email protected]

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