SQL Server - Adding a string to a text column (concat equivalent) - sql

How do you add a string to a column in SQL Server?
UPDATE [myTable] SET [myText]=' '+[myText]
That doesn't work:
The data types varchar and text are incompatible in the add operator.
You would use concat on MySQL, but how do you do it on SQL Server?

like said before best would be to set datatype of the column to nvarchar(max), but if that's not possible you can do the following using cast or convert:
-- create a test table
create table test (
a text
)
-- insert test value
insert into test (a) values ('this is a text')
-- the following does not work !!!
update test set a = a + ' and a new text added'
-- but this way it works:
update test set a = cast ( a as nvarchar(max)) + cast (' and a new text added' as nvarchar(max) )
-- test result
select * from test
-- column a contains:
this is a text and a new text added

Stop using the TEXT data type in SQL Server!
It's been deprecated since the 2005 version. Use VARCHAR(MAX) instead, if you need more than 8000 characters.
The TEXT data type doesn't support the normal string functions, while VARCHAR(MAX) does - your statement would work just fine, if you'd be using just VARCHAR types.

The + (String Concatenation) does not work on SQL Server for the image, ntext, or text data types.
In fact, image, ntext, and text are all deprecated.
ntext, text, and image data types will
be removed in a future version of
MicrosoftSQL Server. Avoid using these
data types in new development work,
and plan to modify applications that
currently use them. Use nvarchar(max),
varchar(max), and varbinary(max)
instead.
That said if you are using an older version of SQL Server than you want to use UPDATETEXT to perform your concatenation. Which Colin Stasiuk gives a good example of in his blog post String Concatenation on a text column (SQL 2000 vs SQL 2005+).

UPDATE test SET a = CONCAT(a, "more text")

hmm, try doing CAST(' ' AS TEXT) + [myText]
Although, i am not completely sure how this will pan out.
I also suggest against using the Text datatype, use varchar instead.
If that doesn't work, try ' ' + CAST ([myText] AS VARCHAR(255))

To Join two string in SQL Query use function CONCAT(Express1,Express2,...)
Like....
SELECT CODE, CONCAT(Rtrim(FName), " " , TRrim(LName)) as Title FROM MyTable

Related

Storing Symbols like ϱπΩ÷√νƞµΔϒᵨλθ→%° in SQL Server XML

I ran these quires in my SQL server
select cast('<Answers>
<AnswerDescription> ϱπΩ÷√νƞµΔϒᵨλθ→%° </AnswerDescription>
</Answers>' as xml)
select ' ϱπΩ÷√νƞµΔϒᵨλθ→%°'
And got the following results
<Answers>
<AnswerDescription> ?pO÷v??µ??????%° </AnswerDescription>
</Answers>
and
" ?pO÷v??µ??????%°"
How to make my SQL server store or display these values as they are being sent from Application ?
In SQL Server, scalar string values are cast to VARCHAR by default.
Your example can be made to work by indicating that the strings should be treated as NVARCHAR by adding N before the opening single quote:
select cast(N'<Answers>
<AnswerDescription> ϱπΩ÷√νƞµΔϒᵨλθ→%° </AnswerDescription>
</Answers>' as xml)
select N' ϱπΩ÷√νƞµΔϒᵨλθ→%°'
If these strings are being incorrectly stored in the database, it is likely that they are being implicitly cast to VARCHAR at some point during insertion (e.g. INSERT). It's also possible that they are being stored correctly and are cast to VARCHAR on retrieval (e.g. SELECT).
If you add some code to the question showing how you're inserting data and the datatypes of the target tables, it should be possible to provide more detailed assistance.
I believe its problem with incorectly set character set,
change charecter set to UTF8.
I just tested it on my MySQL database, i changed character set to utf8-bin using
ALTER TABLE `tab1` CHANGE `test` `test` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin NOT NULL
worked without any problem

Convert Binary Id Field to Text

I need the text (representation) of a id field in SQL Server 2005. Is there a way, we can generate the textual representation of the id field?
For instance, if the id field reads as 0x00000000000002F0, I need the text value of 0x00000000000002F0 so that I can run SUBSTR operations on the same.
Constraints
I am not allowed to create a stored procedure in the Database (as creation of SP is not allowed)
Thanks!
You can convert unicode strings to binary using
SELECT CONVERT(VARBINARY(40),N'Hello World')
(returns 0x480065006C006C006F00200057006F0072006C006400)
Convert from binary back to unicode using
SELECT CONVERT(NVARCHAR(20), 0x480065006C006C006F00200057006F0072006C006400)
(returns 'Hello World')
Whilst it's not immediately obvious to me why you would want to do this for comparison purposes (as opposed to matching binary values), the undocumented function sys.fn_varbintohexstr should do the trick
declare #vb binary(8)
,#vc varchar(20)
set #vb = 0x00000000000002F0
set #vc = sys.fn_varbintohexstr(#vb)
--prove that this works by concatenating a string to the varchar value
select #vb, '#' + #vc

Accessing text fields in a stored procedure and insert to another table

I am trying to access a “text” type and inserting that value into another table viw a stored procedure. I’ve tried to cast it, convert it, but nothing works.
My code looks somethings like this:
Declare #Critique varchar(max), #Feedback varchar(max)
…
…
…
SELECT #Critique = CAST(comments as varchar(max)), #Feedback = CAST(public_critique as varchar(max)) FROM ASCO_vEXTERNAL_REVIEW_APPLICATIONS_LIST WHERE wf_task_assignment_id = #WfTaskAssignmentIDP1
– comments and public_critique are defined as text in view (also tried with table) ASCO_vEXTERNAL_REVIEW_APPLICATIONS_LIST
…
…
…
insert into WF_TASK_ASSIGNMENT_REVIEW (wf_task_assignment_review_id, wf_task_assignment_id, grantee_project_id, comments, public_critique) values (#NewID1, #WfTaskAssignmentIDP2, #GranteeProjectID, #Critique, #Feedback)
Can you please help me with this as soon as possible. I would really appreciate this.
Thanks,
Harish
I'm assuming that the WF_TASK_ASSIGNMENT_REVIEW is the one containing the text column you're trying to write into.
The text type is now deprecated in SQL 2005 and 2008. If at all possible try and upgrade the WF_TASK_ASSIGNMENT_REVIEW table to use the nvarchar(max) type instead.
If not, the only way is to use the WRITETEXT statement to write into the target column, in a loop (since WRITETEXT has an upper limit). See the WRITETEXT statement example in the SQL Server docs.
Your question is not sound good to understand .
Dont use text ,it wont support in many cases like where ,group by etc , so try use varchar
This is just an example
Declare #Critique varchar(max)
set #Critique = (select public_critique from ASCO_vEXTERNAL_REVIEW_APPLICATIONS_LIST
where convert(varchar(50), wf_task_assignment_id ) =#WfTaskAssignmentIDP1)

TSQL - Case on Ntext (SQL 2005)

Stored Procedures in SQL 2005 - with field type NText
Im Writing a stored procedure to tidy up some data before importing it into Microsoft CRM.
So far all works fine.
However i need to do a case statement on a nText Field. It needs to check this field against about 3 or 4 text values and set a new field (already in the destination table) which is also an nText field.
However i am getting the error
"The data types ntext and varchar are incompatible in the equal to operator.
I have come across a few articles however their solutions all seem very complex.
Thanks for your help and advice in advanced.
I recommend, if at all possible, replacing the NTEXT type with NVARCHAR(MAX), since NTEXT is not a first class type and NVARCHAR is. This should be easy to do with an ALTER TABLE statement.
Most higher level code shouldn't care about the type change. Any procedural code that uses READTEXT, WRITETEXT, etc. to deal with the NTEXT columns can be simplified to just basic selects and updates.
If the type change is not possible you may have to wrap the comparisons and assignments with CAST() or CONVERT() operators, which is ugly.
NTEXT is deprecated in SQL Server 2005. You should use NVARCHAR(MAX) instead (NVARCHAR(MAX) can be used in CASE). Is it possible for you to change the type?
this works as well
CREATE TABLE #TEMP
(
MyDummy NTEXT
)
INSERT INTO #TEMP (MyDummy) Values ('test')
SELECT
CASE CAST(MyDummy AS NVARCHAR(MAX)) WHEN 'test' THEN 'ok' ELSE 'NOK' END MyTest
FROM #temp
drop table #temp

How to append to a text field in t-sql SQL Server 2005

What is the best way to append to a text field using t-sql in Sql Server 2005?
With a varchar I would do this.
update tablename set fieldname = fieldname + 'appended string'
But this doesn't work with a text field.
Try this:
update
tablename
set
fieldname = convert(nvarchar(max),fieldname) + 'appended string'
This should work (link)
Copied from link:
DECLARE #ptrval binary(16)
SELECT #ptrval = TEXTPTR(ntextThing)
FROM item
WHERE id =1
UPDATETEXT table.ntextthing #ptrval NULL 0 '!'
GO
in 2005 you should use varchar(max) or nvarchar(max) these columns will work with normal varchar functions. Text and ntext have been deprecated
The max length for varchar(max) is 2,147,483,647 characters.
This is the same as the Text data type.
Whatever text could hold, this can hold,
so you don't need to worry about running out of room by switching to VARCHAR(MAX).