What is the command used to fetch first 5 characters of the string?

There are many ways to fetch the first 5 characters of the string -

Employee Table

emp_id emp_name alary dept_id manager_id
E1 Rahul 15000 D1 M1
E2 Manoj 15000 D1 M1
E3 James 55000 D2 M2
E4 Michael 25000 D2 M2
E5 Ali 20000 D10 M3
E6 Robin 35000 D10 M3

Using SUBSTRING Function

The SUBSTRING() function extracts some characters from a string.

Syntax
SUBSTRING(string , start , length )

SELECT SUBSTRING(emp_name ,1,5) as 'Employee Name' FROM Employee;

Output

Employee Name
Rahul
Manoj
James
Micha
Ali
Robin

Using LEFT Function

The LEFT() function is used to extract a specific number of characters from the beginning of a string. This function is supported by several databases, including MySQL, MS SQL Server, and Access, but not by Oracle.

Syntax
LEFT(string, number_of_chars)

SELECT LEFT(emp_name ,5) as 'Employee Name' FROM Employee;

Output

Employee Name
Rahul
Manoj
James
Micha
Ali
Robin

Code Runner

Copy the below queries in the code runner to see the result

SELECT SUBSTRING(emp_name ,1,5) as 'Employee Name' FROM Employee;