MySQL: Use substring to derive data from two different columns

Question

I have the following table:

CREATE TABLE `vendor_contacts` (
  `vendor_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `last_name` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
  `first_name` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
  `name_initials` varchar(45) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`vendor_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

With the following insert statement:

INSERT INTO `vendor_contacts`
    VALUES (5,'Davison','Michelle',''),
           (12,'Mayteh','Kendall',''),
           (17,'Onandonga','Bruce',''),
           (44,'Antavius','Anthony',''),
           (76,'Bradlee','Danny',''),
           (94,'Suscipe','Reynaldo',''),
           (101,'O\'Sullivan','Geraldine',''),
           (123,'Bucket','Charles','');

I would like to run a query that extracts the first letter from the first name and last name columns.

SELECT vendor_id, last_name, first_name,  substring(first_name, 1, 1) AS initials
FROM vendor_contacts;

The following guide http://www.w3resource.com/mysql/string-functions/mysql-substring-function.php, only shows how to work with one column.

Gordon Linoff · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-15 03:11:34Z

3

You pull them separately and combine them using concat():

SELECT vendor_id, last_name, first_name,
       CONCAT(LEFT(first_name, 1), LEFT(last_name, 1)) as initials
FROM vendor_contacts;

answered Dec 15, 2016 at 3:11

Gordon Linoff

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