In MySQL, the LTRIM() function trims whitespace from the beginning of a string.

Syntax

The syntax goes like this:

LTRIM(str) 

Where str is the string to trim.

Example

Here’s a basic example of removing whitespace from the start of a string:

SELECT LTRIM(' Tree') AS Trimmed;

Result:

+---------+ | Trimmed | +---------+ | Tree | +---------+ 

The leading space is removed.

To demonstrate the effect better, here’s what it looks like when compared to the untrimmed string:

SELECT LTRIM(' Tree') AS Result UNION SELECT ' Tree';

Result:

+--------+ | Result | +--------+ | Tree | | Tree | +--------+

So the first one has been trimmed and the second one hasn’t.

Multiple Spaces

If you have multiple leading spaces, all of them are trimmed:

SELECT LTRIM(' Tree') AS Result UNION SELECT ' Tree';

Result:

+------------+ | Result | +------------+ | Tree | | Tree | +------------+

Other Spaces

This function only trims leading space. Any other space is left alone:

SELECT LTRIM(' New Zealand ') Trimmed, ' New Zealand ' Untrimmed;

Result:

+--------------------+---------------------+ | Trimmed | Untrimmed | +--------------------+---------------------+ | New Zealand | New Zealand | +--------------------+---------------------+

In this example, space between each word is left intact, and trailing space is also left intact on both strings. Only the the first string has its leading space trimmed.