Delete ; symbol at string end (SQL) - sql

Question

I have SQL script that gets roles and return string with list of roles
Here is part of code
, ISNULL(SUBSTRING(
(
SELECT ECBR.RoleName + ';' AS [text()]
FROM [External].[vw_ExecutiveChangeByRole] ECBR
WHERE ECBR.VendorExecutiveChangeId = ECH.VendorExecutiveChangeId
AND (ECBR.IsCurrentOrPrior IS NULL OR ECBR.IsCurrentOrPrior = 1)
AND ECBR.RecognizedWith = 'ML'
ORDER BY ECBR.RoleId
FOR XML PATH ('')
), 1, 1000), '') AS RecognizedCurrentRoles
And now showing like VP;Controller;
How I can make this string without last;, just VP;Controller

Answer 1

It depends on your version of SQL Server.
If you have a version 2017 or higher than this is very easy, see this example
let's first build some sample data
declare #t table (groupid int, name varchar(50))
insert into #t (GroupID, name)
values (1, 'VP'), (1, 'Controller'), (2,'A'), (2,NULL), (2,'whatever');
the query for sql server 2017 or higher
select t.groupid,
string_agg(t.name, ';') as name
from #t t
group by t.groupid
the result is
groupid name
------- ----
1 VP;Controller
2 A;whatever
On older versions you need to select for XLM Path and then use STUFF to get rid of the extra ;
select t.groupid,
( select ';' + t2.name
from #t t2
where t2.groupid = t.groupid
for XML PATH('')
) as without_stuff,
stuff( ( select ';' + t2.name
from #t t2
where t2.groupid = t.groupid
for XML PATH('')
),
1, 1, '') as with_stuff
from #t t
group by t.groupid
the result is
groupid without_stuff with_stuff
------- ------------- ----------
1 ;VP;Controller VP;Controller
2 ;A;whatever A;whatever
EDIT
As commented by #Charlieface the XLM PATH could return unexpected results when the character is a special XML character, for example <
lets look at this example
select t.groupid,
( select '<' + t2.name
from #t t2
where t2.groupid = t.groupid
for XML PATH('')
) as without_stuff
from #t t
group by t.groupid
it will return this result
groupid without_stuff
------- -------------
1 <VP<Controller
2 <A<whatever
I can imagine that this is not what you expected.
To solve this, alter the query like this
select t.groupid,
(select '<' + t2.name
from #t t2
where t2.groupid = t.groupid
for XML PATH(''), TYPE
).value('text()[1]','nvarchar(max)') as without_stuff
from #t t
group by t.groupid
Now the result will be more what you want
groupid without_stuff
------- -------------
1 <vp<Controller
2 <A<whatever