I have a requirement to do something I believe should be simple enough, but am not finding the right answer to. How do I use a checkmark as a column alias in SQL Server 2008 R2?
I've tried using Char(251) by setting it to a value and trying to assign the value as the column alias, but no joy on that one.
I've tried using Char(251) (and I know that's more of a square root mark, but not sure of the checkmark ascii value if there is one. I believe that is a unicode value?) directly but again no joy. This should be simple, but I'm simply not finding it.
Thanks.
You cannot use expressions as identifiers in SQL Server (or any other SQL database for that matter). You can, however, use Unicode characters in identifiers, so simply copy and paste the desired character:
select 'yes' as "☑︎";
or even
select 'blah' as "😀";
Having said that, you should not be doing all that -- presentation is not the task for a database engine; it should be implemented in the client application.
Related
I'm adding a table to my database - CREATE TABLE dbo.Card - and SSMS is highlighting the word Card. I'm searching the internet trying to find out what that word means to SQL and if it is a keyword or not. I don't see it anywhere on Microsoft's list of SQL Reserved Words.
The main reason I care, aside from the highlighting bothering me, is that I want to avoid using any reserved words or keywords as schema/table/column/etc... names. When I absolutely have to - existing databases - I like to use square brackets to make things explicit.
Is Card a reserved word or keyword in SQL, or for any other reason unsafe to use as an identifier?
If it is safe to use, can anyone explain why SSMS is highlighting it?
If it is not 100% safe to use as a table name I'll most likely choose a different name.
Windows 8.1
SSMS v17.7
Red Gate - Up to date, including SQL Prompt 9.4.9
SQL Server 2017 (14.0)
Database Compatibility Level 2017 (140)
UPDATE
It looks like the main consensus is:
It is not a reserved or keyword
SSMS highlights it because reasons... It's probably used somewhere by MS SQL Server or SSMS
At this point I'm just terribly curious, but at least I know there's no need to worry. Thanks everyone for your answers.
No, card is not a reversed word in Microsoft SQLServer or SQL ANSI standard.
Card is definitely not a reserved keyword in SQL Server
You can check the complete list of reserved words Reserved Keywords (Transact-SQL)
SSMS highlights it because reasons... It's probably used somewhere by
MS SQL Server or SSMS
They are various keywords that have been subjectively chosen by Microsoft and placed into a list within the query editor syntax coloring file.
I suggest it's always good to use Delimited Identifiers ([] or ") when specifying table name and column names.
For example, the script you are using should be written as
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Card](<Columns>)
I'm trying to filter results from a Query i have created in Microsoft Query to pull data from a database into my Excel sheet. Specifically I'm trying to filter out based on the nth character of a string.
I can easily filter out the based on the first char:
SOPOrderReturnLine.ItemCode Like 'A25%'
But I have no idea how I could filter to show only entries where the 10th char = "A". I'm sure I have to use a Substring function, but it's not familiar to me and I'm struggling to get it to work.
Try to edit your sql query and enter the following statement:
select * from SOPOrderReturnLine where substring(SOPOrderReturnLine.ItemCode,10,1) = 'A';
The statement should work for a MySql database as well as for an Sql Server in the background; (I've tested it with an MySql database).
Hope this helps.
In MSQuery (Jet under the covers, I think), the function is Mid.
SELECT * FROM tblLocation WHERE (Mid(LocationName,2,1)='e')
to find a lower case 'e' in the second location.
I assume when you say MS Query, you are running a query against a DBMS (SQL Server or some other via ODBC).
The use of substr, substring or mid should work, depending on which DBMS. That said, unless you're using MS Access, I think most DBMSs will support the underscore character as "any single character." It might even work in Access, but I don't know for sure. Therefore, I think in addition to the suggestions you've gotten, this will also work in most cases:
SOPOrderReturnLine.ItemCode Like '_________A%'
If you want to use substring, don't hold me to these, but I think:
Oracle / DB2 / SQLite - substr
Microsoft SQL Server / Sybase / MySQL - substring
MS Access - mid
PostgreSQL -substr or substring
Can anybody tell me what does the error mean? Whenever I open the query builder it will prompt with an error indicating that SQL syntax errors were encountered.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189012.aspx
I looked at the following page in MSDN but I don't understand what it means...
For instance, what do these bullet points from the MSDN article mean?
The SQL statement is incomplete or contains one or more syntax errors.
The SQL statement is valid but is not supported in the graphical panes (for example, a Union query).
The SQL statement is valid but contains syntax specific to the data connection you are using.
USER (which you've apparently decided is an appropriate table name) is a SQL Server reserved word.
The best solution is to rename your table, so you don't have to escape the table name every time you want to query it and to make it clear it's your user data (hey, there's a table name suggestion - userdata).
The other option is to escape the name by surrounding it with square brackets:
SELECT * FROM [users]
Note that it will get old fast having to do this with every query. Again, the best solution would be to rename the table to something that isn't a reserved word.
Pretty simple one today. I've got a column, let's call it title, with a bunch of project titles. What I need to to pull everything from the left of the ":" and do a left/right trim (I'm then going to be using that in a join later on but I just need a column with the new data for now). So here's an example of what the current column looks like:
And here's what I need it to look like after the query is run:
The problem is while the # are 6 characters now, I can't guarantee they'll always be 6 characters. So if I was doing this in Excel I'd use the deliminated feature or just write a left/len/search function. Wondering how to do the same in SQL. BTW, I'm using SQL Server Management Studio.
Thoughts?
Assuming that your number is always followed by a [space]:[space], then simply look for that first space, and use its location as the argument for a left-substring operation:
SELECT LEFT(Title, CHARINDEX(' ', Title, 0)) AS "New Title"
p.s. Just say you're using MS SQL Server. SSMS is just a management front-end for that database.
check this post out. it does exactly what you are trying to do.
SQL Server replace, remove all after certain character
I have recently moved a database from Sql Server 2000 to Sql Server 2005. In the table designer, it insists on putting square brackets around a column named "Content" I don't see Content on the list of reserved words for Sql Server, so I don't understand why it is doing this. Is there a way I can prevent it?
CONTENT is a keyword when defining an XML column with a schema.
See here.
Edit: The MSDN link is broken (per Champ's comment), so here is the relevant extract:
Creating a typed XML column is as simple as adding the name of the schema inside parentheses, as you see here:
CREATE TABLE Foo(FooID INT, someXml XML(CONTENT FooSchema))
This statement indicates that the someXml column must adhere to the XML Schema Collection named FooSchema. You can specify that the XML must be a document or that it can contain a fragment by including the appropriate keyword, DOCUMENT or CONTENT, respectively. If omitted, the default is CONTENT.
The problem is that the field has the same name as the table. Sql Server 2000 did not seem to care about this potential ambiguity, but Sql Server 2005 does. When I add a field named Content to a table that is not named Content, the square brackets do not appear.
pamela
No, you can't prevent it. You can always add square brackets around a column name so it doesn't hurt anything.