CREATE FUNCTION getUnqiue(s VARCHAR(255)) RETURNS VARCHAR(1000) BEGIN DECLARE final VARCHAR(255); DECLARE working VARCHAR(255); DECLARE letter VARCHAR(1); SET final = ''; SET working = s; REPEAT SET letter = MID(working, 0, 1); IF NOT LOCATE(letter, final) THEN SET final = CONCAT(final, letter); SET working = RIGHT(CHAR_LEN(working) - 1); END IF; UNTIL working = '' END REPEAT; RETURN final; END;