Wozu dient die Kontrollflussfunktion MySQL IFNULL()?

IFNULL(expression1, expression2)

mysql> Select IFNULL(NULL,'Ram');
+--------------------+
| IFNULL(NULL,'Ram') |
+--------------------+
| Ram                |
+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> Select IFNULL('Shyam','Ram');
+-----------------------+
| IFNULL('Shyam','Ram') |
+-----------------------+
| Shyam                 |
+-----------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> Select IFNULL(NULL,NULL);
+-------------------+
| IFNULL(NULL,NULL) |
+-------------------+
| NULL              |
+-------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)