TRANSLATE function - Amazon Redshift
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TRANSLATE function

For a given expression, replaces all occurrences of specified characters with specified substitutes. Existing characters are mapped to replacement characters by their positions in the characters_to_replace and characters_to_substitute arguments. If more characters are specified in the characters_to_replace argument than in the characters_to_substitute argument, the extra characters from the characters_to_replace argument are omitted in the return value.

TRANSLATE is similar to the REPLACE function and the REGEXP_REPLACE function, except that REPLACE substitutes one entire string with another string and REGEXP_REPLACE lets you search a string for a regular expression pattern, while TRANSLATE makes multiple single-character substitutions.

If any argument is null, the return is NULL.

Syntax

TRANSLATE( expression, characters_to_replace, characters_to_substitute )

Arguments

expression

The expression to be translated.

characters_to_replace

A string containing the characters to be replaced.

characters_to_substitute

A string containing the characters to substitute.

Return type

VARCHAR

Examples

To replace several characters in a string, use the following example.

SELECT TRANSLATE('mint tea', 'inea', 'osin'); +-----------+ | translate | +-----------+ | most tin | +-----------+

The following examples use data from the USERS table in the TICKIT sample database. For more information, see Sample database.

To replace the at sign (@) with a period for all values in a column, use the following example.

SELECT email, TRANSLATE(email, '@', '.') as obfuscated_email FROM users LIMIT 10; +---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | email | obfuscated_email | +---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | Cum@accumsan.com | Cum.accumsan.com | | lorem.ipsum@Vestibulumante.com | lorem.ipsum.Vestibulumante.com | | non.justo.Proin@ametconsectetuer.edu | non.justo.Proin.ametconsectetuer.edu | | non.ante.bibendum@porttitortellus.org | non.ante.bibendum.porttitortellus.org | | eros@blanditatnisi.org | eros.blanditatnisi.org | | augue@Donec.ca | augue.Donec.ca | | cursus@pedeacurna.edu | cursus.pedeacurna.edu | | at@Duis.com | at.Duis.com | | quam@facilisisvitaeorci.ca | quam.facilisisvitaeorci.ca | | mi.lorem@nunc.edu | mi.lorem.nunc.edu | +---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+

To replace spaces with underscores and strips out periods for all values in a column, use the following example.

SELECT city, TRANSLATE(city, ' .', '_') FROM users WHERE city LIKE 'Sain%' OR city LIKE 'St%' GROUP BY city ORDER BY city; +----------------+---------------+ | city | translate | +----------------+---------------+ | Saint Albans | Saint_Albans | | Saint Cloud | Saint_Cloud | | Saint Joseph | Saint_Joseph | | Saint Louis | Saint_Louis | | Saint Paul | Saint_Paul | | St. George | St_George | | St. Marys | St_Marys | | St. Petersburg | St_Petersburg | | Stafford | Stafford | | Stamford | Stamford | | Stanton | Stanton | | Starkville | Starkville | | Statesboro | Statesboro | | Staunton | Staunton | | Steubenville | Steubenville | | Stevens Point | Stevens_Point | | Stillwater | Stillwater | | Stockton | Stockton | | Sturgis | Sturgis | +----------------+---------------+