MySQL combine two columns and add into a new column

Question

I have the following structure with a MySQL table:

+----------------+----------------+----------+
|    zipcode     |      city      |   state  |
+-----------         


        

Answer 1

Create the column:

ALTER TABLE yourtable ADD COLUMN combined VARCHAR(50);

Update the current values:

UPDATE yourtable SET combined = CONCAT(zipcode, ' - ', city, ', ', state);

Update all future values automatically:

CREATE TRIGGER insert_trigger
BEFORE INSERT ON yourtable
FOR EACH ROW
SET new.combined = CONCAT(new.zipcode, ' - ', new.city, ', ', new.state);

CREATE TRIGGER update_trigger
BEFORE UPDATE ON yourtable
FOR EACH ROW
SET new.combined = CONCAT(new.zipcode, ' - ', new.city, ', ', new.state);