LTRIM

The LTRIM function removes blanks or hexadecimal zeros from the beginning of an expression.


>>-LTRIM--(--expression--)-------------------------------------><

expression

An expression that returns a value of any built-in numeric or string data type. A numeric argument is cast to a character string before evaluating the function.¹ For more information about converting numeric to a character string, see VARCHAR.

If the argument is a binary string, the leading hexadecimal zeros (X'00') are removed.
If the argument is a DBCS graphic string, the leading DBCS blanks are removed.
If the first argument is a Unicode graphic string, the leading UTF-16 or UCS-2 blanks are removed.
If the first argument is a UTF-8 character string, the leading UTF-8 blanks are removed.
Otherwise, leading SBCS blanks are removed.

The data type of the result depends on the data type of expression:

Data type of expression	Data type of the Result
CHAR or VARCHAR	VARCHAR
CLOB	CLOB
GRAPHIC or VARGRAPHIC	VARGRAPHIC
DBCLOB	DBCLOB
BINARY or VARBINARY	VARBINARY
BLOB	BLOB

The length attribute of the result is the same as the length attribute of expression. The actual length of the result is the length of expression minus the number of bytes removed. If all characters are removed, the result is an empty string.

If the first argument can be null, the result can be null; if the first argument is null, the result is the null value.

The CCSID of the result is the same as that of the string.

Example

Assume the host variable HELLO of type CHAR(9) has a value of ' Hello'.
```
  SELECT LTRIM(:HELLO)
    FROM SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1
```
Results in: 'Hello'.

¹ The LTRIM function returns the same results as: STRIP(expression,LEADING)