Tag: mssql

Left Padding in SQL Server – 3 LPAD() Equivalents

Posted on by Ian

If you use Oracle Database or MySQL, you’re lucky enough to have the LPAD() and RPAD() functions, which allow you to pad a string with a given character (or characters) to its left and/or right.

However, SQL Server (or more precisely, T-SQL), doesn’t include these functions. So if you need some left padding, you’ll need to improvise.

This article presents four options for padding a number with leading zeros in SQL Server. So you can do stuff like turn 7 into 007. Three of these options work on strings, so you can also apply padding to textual data.

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How to Return the ASCII Code Value for a given Character in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

If you ever need to find the ASCII code for a given character when using SQL Server, the T-SQL ASCII() function is probably what you need.

The ASCII() function returns the ASCII code value of the leftmost character of a character expression. Simply provide the character as an argument and SQL Server will return the ASCII value of that character (or the leftmost character in the string).

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SQL Server REPLACE() vs TRANSLATE(): What are the Differences?

Posted on by Ian

Starting with SQL Server 2017, you can now use the T-SQL TRANSLATE() function to translate one or more characters into another set of characters.

At first glance, you might think that the TRANSLATE() function does exactly the same thing as the REPLACE() function, but there are significant differences between the two.

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How to Select a Certain Number of Characters from the Left or Right of a String in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

If you ever find yourself wanting only the first part of a string, or the last part of it, this article might help.

This article is specific to SQL Server, but the functionality is pretty common across most/all database management systems, not to mention most programming languages.

When working with SQL Server, you can use theT-SQL LEFT() and RIGHT() functions to return any given number of characters from the left or right of a string.

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How to Return a String in Reverse Order using SQL Server – REVERSE()

Posted on by Ian

Starting from SQL Server 2008, the REVERSE() function can be used to reverse the order of a string. That is, it returns the characters in the string in reverse order.

Here’s the syntax:

REVERSE ( string_expression )

Where string_expression is an expression of a string or binary data type. It can be a constant, variable, or column of either character or binary data.

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3 Ways to Return a String of Multiple Spaces in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

When working with databases and the associated data, sometimes you need to insert a space when joining two strings together, or sometimes you need to replace a character with a space.

And then sometimes you need to insert multiple spaces. Here are 3 ways to return a string of multiple spaces in SQL Server using T-SQL.

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