How Do I Prepend a String to Column Values in MySQL?

Prepending a String to a Column Value in MySQL

To efficiently update a column in a MySQL database by prepending a specific string to existing values, you can utilize the powerful CONCAT function. Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Identify Table and Column: Determine the table name and the column you wish to update.
2. CONCAT Function: Construct an update statement using the CONCAT function. This function allows you to concatenate two or more strings together. The syntax is as follows:

UPDATE table_name SET column_name = CONCAT('prepended_string', column_name)

3. Example: For instance, if you have a table named "user" and a column named "name" with an existing value of "try," you can prepend the string "test" using the following statement:

UPDATE user SET name = CONCAT('test', name)

This will result in the "name" column value becoming "testtry."

4. Optional Condition: To ensure that you only update rows that don't already have the prepended string, you can add a condition to the WHERE clause. For example, to only update rows where the column value doesn't start with "test," use the following statement:

UPDATE user SET name = CONCAT('test', name)
WHERE name NOT LIKE 'test%'

By following these steps, you can effortlessly prepend a string to column values in a MySQL database. This technique is highly useful for various data manipulation scenarios.

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