short_desc

[vic_523]

Hi guys,
I need to restrict the output in a column to a set number of characters. How do I go about doing this?

I believe that I must use

attributename.short_desc

But how do I get this to work and how do I state the number of characters needed? there are a number of tables being used to get the data needed and these all work fine...I just cant get the short description bit to work.

Thank you in advance
Vic
:O)

[mordred]

I would use the SUBSTRING function to achieve the result. See also

http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/String_functions.html

So your query could look like this to get the first 30 chars: (untested)

SELECT SUBSTRING(attributename.short_desc, 0, 30) AS something FROM tablename WHERE condition

A little pseudo-code like, but the general principle should be clear.