## Syntax
```mermaid
%%{init: {
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'themeVariables': {
'fontSize': '11px',
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flowchart LR
Start((START)) --> LPAD[LPAD]:::quoted
LPAD --> End((END))
```
## Purpose
The `LPAD` SQL function pads a text to the left to make it a specified length.
See also [[RPAD]].
Parameters:
- Input (`varchar2`): text to be padded.
- Length (`int32`): the length the text should be padded to.
- Characters (optional, `varchar2`): Characters to pad with. Defaults to a space.
Returns: A text padded to the left to a given length with the optional specified characters.
## Examples
The following example pads `abc` to a length of five characters with spaces:
```sql
select lpad('abc', 5)
-------------------
abc
```
The following example pads `abc` to a length of five characters with `*`:
```sql
select lpad('abc', 5, '*')
-------------------
**abc
```
The following example shortens `abc` to a length of one character since the requested length is less than the length of the input:
```sql
select lpad('abc', 1)
-------------------
a
```