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How to Format Negative Values with Brackets in SQL Server (T-SQL)

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Here’s a quick way to add brackets around negative numbers in SQL Server when using the FORMAT() function.

The goal here is that brackets are only added to negative values. No brackets are added to positive values or zeros. Also, the brackets replace any minus sign that would otherwise be displayed (in other words, no minus sign is displayed when the brackets are used).

Although formatting is often best left to the presentation layer, there may be cases that dictate a T-SQL solution in SQL Server. In such cases, hopefully this article helps.

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How to Apply Conditional Formatting to a Number in SQL Server using FORMAT()

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Perhaps one of the lesser-known features of the FORMAT() function in SQL Server is one that enables you to apply conditional formatting to a number.

It’s more of a .NET feature than it is a SQL Server (or T-SQL) feature, but SQL Server/T-SQL supports it all the same, allowing you to take full advantage of the ability to apply conditional formatting to numbers.

It all comes down to the format string you pass to the FORMAT() function.

You can pass a format string that specifies how the number should be formatted, depending on whether it’s positive, negative, or zero.

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How to Specify the Invariant Culture when using FORMAT() in SQL Server

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In SQL Server, you can use the FORMAT() function to format date/time and number values as strings. In particular, the function provides “locale-aware” formatting, and the function accepts a “culture” argument, which allows you to specify a culture or language to use for the actual format. For example, you can pass en-us to ensure the results are formatted in US English format.

The culture argument is optional, so if you don’t provide it, the output will be determined by the language of the current session.

The FORMAT() function accepts any culture supported by the .NET Framework as an argument (you’re not limited to the languages explicitly supported by SQL Server).

One of the cultures supported by the .NET Framework is the invariant culture. The invariant culture is culture-insensitive. More specifically, this culture is associated with the English language but not with any country/region.

To specify that FORMAT() should output the results using the invariant culture, simply use "iv" for the culture argument (the third argument).

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How to Return the Unix Timestamp in SQL Server (T-SQL)

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You might have noticed that SQL Server doesn’t have an equivalent of MySQL‘s UNIX_TIMESTAMP() function.

However, it’s not that difficult to return the Unix timestamp in SQL Server.

The Unix timestamp (also known as Unix Epoch time, Unix time, or POSIX time) is simply the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 Thursday, 1 January 1970, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Therefore, in SQL Server we can use a couple of T-SQL functions to return this.

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How to Display a Date in German Format in SQL Server (T-SQL)

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When formatting a date using the FORMAT() function in SQL Server, the date will be formatted according to the language of your local session. However, you can override this by specifying a culture to use, or using a custom date format.

This article demonstrates how to explicitly specify a German date format by using the optional “culture” argument of the FORMAT() function. It also demonstrates how to use your own custom date format if that is more desirable.

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How to Display a Date in British Format in SQL Server (T-SQL)

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This article demonstrates how to explicitly format a date in Great Britain English format when using the T-SQL FORMAT() function in SQL Server.

You may or may not need to use this argument, depending on the language of your local session. However, here’s how to explicitly specify Great Britain English date format.

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How to Display a Date in US Date Format in SQL Server (T-SQL)

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In SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL FORMAT() function to display a date in the desired format. This function accepts an optional “culture” argument, which you can use to specify US date format.

You may or may not need to use this argument, depending on the language of your local session. However, here’s how to explicitly specify US date format.

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How to Format Numbers as Currency in SQL Server (T-SQL)

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In SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL FORMAT() function to format a number as a currency.

The FORMAT() function allows you to format numbers, dates, currencies, etc. It accepts three arguments; the number, the format, and an optional “culture” argument. This article specifically deals with using the format argument to specify a currency.

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