SQLite 3 reference · String Functions

SQLite || Concatenation Operator

Join strings with the || operator, the standard SQL way to concatenate. If either side is NULL, the result is NULL.

SQLite 3

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Syntax

X || Y

Parameter	Description
`X, Y`	Values to join; numbers are converted to text.

The joined text, or NULL.

Build a labelTry it yourself

SELECT name || ' (' || country || ')' AS label
FROM customers
LIMIT 3;

Output

label
Ada Lovelace (UK)
Alan Turing (UK)
Grace Hopper (USA)

NULL makes the whole result NULLTry it yourself

SELECT name || ', ' || city AS with_city,
       name || ', ' || coalesce(city, 'unknown') AS safe
FROM customers
WHERE customer_id = 7;

Output

with_city | safe
NULL | Barbara Liskov, unknown

CONCAT() · Join any number of values into one string. Unlike ||, NULL arguments are skipped instead of making the result NULL.
CONCAT_WS() · Join values with a separator between them, skipping NULLs. The ws stands for with separator.
COALESCE() · Return the first argument that isn't NULL. The standard way to replace NULL with a default value.
SQL String Functions · tutorial