Database Management Systems
In SQL Server, the T-SQL QUOTENAME() function returns a Unicode string with the delimiters added to make the input string a valid SQL Server delimited identifier.
It was designed for quoting databases and their objects.
The function accepts two arguments; the input string (required), and a delimiter character (optional).
In SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL PATINDEX() function to find a pattern within a string. Specifically, the function only returns the first occurrence of the pattern within the string.
The function accepts two arguments; the pattern, and the string.
You can use wildcard characters within the pattern.
In SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL NCHAR() function to return the Unicode character based on the specified integer code.
You provide the integer code as an argument, and the function will return the Unicode character as defined by the Unicode standard.
In SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL RIGHT() function to return a given number of characters from the right part of a string.
The function accepts two arguments; the string itself, and the number of characters you’d like to be returned from that string.
In SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL LEFT() function to return a given number of characters from the left part of a string.
The function accepts two arguments; the string itself, and the number of characters you’d like to be returned from that string.
In SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL FORMAT() function to return values such as numbers and dates as formatted strings.
You provide the value to be formatted, and you specify the format to use. The function accepts an optional argument that allows you to specify a culture to use when formatting the value.
Continue readingIn SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL CHARINDEX() function to find the starting position of a character expression within another character expression.
You provide both character expressions as arguments. You can also provide an optional argument to specify a position in which to start the search.
There are many functions that are included in both MySQL and SQL Server. However, just because both DBMSs share functions of the same name, doesn’t mean that those functions work exactly the same way.
Take CHAR() for example. Both MySQL and SQL Server include this function. Well technically, for SQL Server it’s actually a T-SQL function, but that’s beside the point. The point is that the MySQL CHAR() function provides more functionality than the T-SQL/SQL Server CHAR() function.
In particular, the MySQL version accepts multiple integers, whereas, the T-SQL version only accepts a single integer. The MySQL version also accepts a USING clause that allows you to specify which character set to use (the T-SQL version doesn’t have this clause).
Below are some examples of these differences.
In SQL Server, the T-SQL CHAR() function converts an int ASCII code to a character value. In other words, you pass in an integer, and the function interprets it as the code value for a string character and returns the corresponding string character.
Here, I explain how to use Azure Data Studio (formerly SQL Operations Studio) to create a database in SQL Server.
In my case, I’m running SQL Server on a Mac (via a Docker container), but these instructions are generic and should work exactly the same way on Linux and Windows.
This tutorial assumes you already have Azure Data Studio installed on your machine, and you’ve connected to your SQL Server instance. If you don’t have Azure Data Studio installed on your machine, here are instructions for installing it on a Mac and connecting to SQL Server via Docker. The Azure Data Studio installation is pretty straightforward (you install it just like any other software), so if you’re on Linux or Windows, you shouldn’t have any issues.