MySQL combine two columns into one column

Question

I\'m trying to find a way to combine two columns into one, but keep getting the value \'0\' in the column instead to the combination of the words.

These are what I\'

Answer 1

For the MySQL fans out there, I like the IFNULL() function. Other answers here suggest similar functionality with the ISNULL() function in some implementations. In my situation, I have a column of descriptions which is NOT NULL, and a column of serial numbers which may be NULL This is how I combined them into one column:

SELECT CONCAT(description,IFNULL(' SN: ', serial_number),'')) FROM my_table;

My results suggest that the results of concatenating a string with NULL results in a NULL. I have been getting the alternative value in those cases.