---

{ “title”: “ELT”, “language”: “en”, “description”: “The ELT function returns the string at the specified index position. Index counting starts from 1.” }

Description

The ELT function returns the string at the specified index position. Index counting starts from 1.

Syntax

ELT(<pos>, <str>[, <str> ...])

Parameters

Parameter	Description
<pos>	Index position (starting from 1). Type: INT
<str>	String list. Type: VARCHAR

Return Value

Returns VARCHAR type, representing the string at the specified index position.

Special cases:

• If <pos> is less than 1 or greater than the number of strings, returns NULL
• If <pos> is NULL, returns NULL
• Index starts from 1, the first string has index 1

Examples

1. Basic usage: Get the 1st string

SELECT ELT(1, 'aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc');

+-----------------------------+
| elt(1, 'aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc') |
+-----------------------------+
| aaa                         |
+-----------------------------+

2. Get the 2nd string

SELECT ELT(2, 'aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc');

+-----------------------------+
| elt(2, 'aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc') |
+-----------------------------+
| bbb                         |
+-----------------------------+

3. Index out of bounds returns NULL

SELECT ELT(0, 'aaa', 'bbb'), ELT(5, 'aaa', 'bbb');

+----------------------+----------------------+
| elt(0, 'aaa', 'bbb') | elt(5, 'aaa', 'bbb') |
+----------------------+----------------------+
| NULL                 | NULL                 |
+----------------------+----------------------+

4. NULL value handling

SELECT ELT(NULL, 'aaa', 'bbb');

+-------------------------+
| elt(NULL, 'aaa', 'bbb') |
+-------------------------+
| NULL                    |
+-------------------------+

5. Index exceeds range returns NULL

SELECT ELT(5, 'aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc');

+-----------------------------+
| elt(5, 'aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc') |
+-----------------------------+
| NULL                        |
+-----------------------------+

6. Negative index returns NULL

SELECT ELT(-1, 'first', 'second');

+----------------------------+
| elt(-1, 'first', 'second') |
+----------------------------+
| NULL                       |
+----------------------------+

7. UTF-8 string

SELECT 
    ELT(2, 'Hello', 'ṭṛ', 'Hola');

+-----------------------------------+
| ELT(2, 'Hello', 'ṭṛ', 'Hola')     |
+-----------------------------------+
| ṭṛ                                |
+-----------------------------------+

8. Handling empty strings

SELECT ELT(2, 'first', '', 'third');

+------------------------------+
| elt(2, 'first', '', 'third') |
+------------------------------+
|                              |
+------------------------------+