# REVERSE

Reverses the character order of a string or returns a `NULL` if the parameter is `NULL`.

## Syntax

```sql
SELECT REVERSE(<string>);
```

## Arguments

* string: any string

## Return Type

String

## Examples

```sql
SELECT REVERSE('See the inventory list for details' collate utf8mb4_general_ci);


```

```output

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| REVERSE('See the inventory list for details' collate utf8mb4_general_ci) |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| sliated rof tsil yrotnevni eht eeS                                       |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

```

In the examples below, the following table and values were used:

```sql
CREATE TABLE inventory(item_ID VARCHAR(25), item VARCHAR(50), 
category VARCHAR(25), cases_instock NUMERIC(4));

INSERT INTO inventory VALUES('GA001','Green Apples', 'fruit', '22'),
('RB247','Bananas', 'fruit','32'),
('GP749', 'Golden Pineapple', 'fruit', '11'),
('KM991', 'Kent Mango', 'fruit', '5'),
('FP860', 'Fuyu Persimmons', 'fruit','2');
```

```sql
SELECT item, REVERSE(item) FROM inventory;


```

```output

+------------------+------------------+
| item             | REVERSE(item)    |
+------------------+------------------+
| Bananas          | sananaB          |
| Green Apples     | selppA neerG     |
| Fuyu Persimmons  | snommisreP uyuF  |
| Kent Mango       | ognaM tneK       |
| Golden Pineapple | elppaeniP nedloG |
+------------------+------------------+

```

```sql
SELECT item_id, item, REVERSE(item_id), REVERSE(item) FROM inventory;


```

```output

+---------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| item_id | item             | REVERSE(item_id) | REVERSE(item)    |
+---------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| GP749   | Golden Pineapple | 947PG            | elppaeniP nedloG |
| GA001   | Green Apples     | 100AG            | selppA neerG     |
| KM991   | Kent Mango       | 199MK            | ognaM tneK       |
| RB247   | Bananas          | 742BR            | sananaB          |
| FP860   | Fuyu Persimmons  | 068PF            | snommisreP uyuF  |
+---------+------------------+------------------+------------------+

```

## Use REVERSE to Improve Searching

Utilizing the `REVERSE` function can improve the search performance when querying table data, if you add an ordered index or sort key on a persisted computed column derived from a reversed value.

## Examples

Utilizing an expanded version of the inventory list above, the table and data are as follows:

```sql
CREATE ROWSTORE TABLE inventory(item_ID VARCHAR(25), item VARCHAR(50),
dept VARCHAR(25), dept_mgr_id VARCHAR(15), cases_instock NUMERIC(4));
```

```sql
INSERT INTO inventory VALUES('GA001','Green Apples', 'produce', 'PF9825','22'),
('RB247','Bananas', 'produce','PF9825','32'),  
('GP749', 'Golden Pineapple', 'produce','PF9825', '11'),
('KM991', 'Kent Mango', 'produce', 'PF9825','5'),
('SB984', 'Strawberries', 'produce', 'PF9825','28'),
('BB620', 'Blueberries', 'produce', 'PF9825', '15'),
('RA037', 'Red Apples', 'produce', 'PF9825','45'),
('NO900', 'Navel Oranges', 'produce', 'PF9825', '17'),
('YL100', 'Yuzu', 'produce', 'PF9825','2'),
('CAU119', 'Cauliflower', 'produce','PF9825','14'),
('ZUC329', 'Zucchini', 'produce', 'PF9825', '22'),
('EGP881', 'Eggplant', 'produce','PF9825', '11'),
('YEO992', 'Yellow onions', 'produce','PF9825','47'),
('RPO664', 'Red potatoes', 'produce', 'PF9825', '38'),
('BRO0010', 'Broccoli', 'produce','PF9825', '29')
('BSP0029', 'Baby spinach', 'produce','PF9825', '22'),;
```

Add a persisted column.

```sql
ALTER TABLE inventory ADD rev_item_ID AS (REVERSE(item_ID)) PERSISTED varchar(25);
```

Add an index to the reversed column.

```sql
CREATE INDEX rev_item_ID ON inventory(rev_item_ID);
```

Query the indexed, reversed column.

```sql
SELECT * FROM inventory
WHERE REVERSE(item_ID) LIKE REVERSE('%9');


```

```output

+---------+-------------------+---------+-------------+---------------+-------------+
| item_ID | item              | dept    | dept_mgr_id | cases_instock | rev_item_ID |
+---------+-------------------+---------+-------------+---------------+-------------+
| ZUC329  | Zucchini          | produce | PF9825      |            22 | 923CUZ      |
| GP749   | Golden Pineapple  | produce | PF9825      |            11 | 947PG       |
| BSP0029 | Baby spinach      | produce | PF9825      |            22 | 9200PSB     |
| APF7729 | all-purpose flour | baking  | BD4259      |            47 | 9277FPA     |
| CAU119  | Cauliflower       | produce | PF9825      |            14 | 911UAC      |
+---------+-------------------+---------+-------------+---------------+-------------+

```

Now, observe that the plan for that query uses an index range scan on the computed column: `rev_item_ID`.

```sql
EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM inventory WHERE REVERSE(item_ID) LIKE REVERSE('%9');


```

```output

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXPLAIN                                                                                                                            |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Gather partitions:all alias:remote_0 parallelism_level:partition                                                                   |
| Project [inventory.item_ID, inventory.item, inventory.dept, inventory.dept_mgr_id, inventory.cases_instock, inventory.rev_item_ID] |
| Filter [inventory.rev_item_ID LIKE REVERSE('%9')]                                                                                  |
| TableScan ticket_test.inventory table_type:sharded_rowstore                                                                        |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
```

***

Modified at: May 29, 2025

Source: [/cloud/reference/sql-reference/string-functions/reverse/](https://docs.singlestore.com/cloud/reference/sql-reference/string-functions/reverse/)

(An index of the documentation is available at /llms.txt)