About a year ago, I wrote blog post about SQL SERVER – 2005 – Last Ran Query – Recently Ran Query.  Since, then I have received many question regarding how this is better than fn_get_sql() or DBCC INPUTBUFFER.

The Short Answer in is both of them will be deprecated.

Please refer to following update query to recently executed T-SQL query on database.

SELECT deqs.last_execution_time AS [Time], dest.TEXT AS [Query]
FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats AS deqs
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(deqs.sql_handle) AS dest
ORDER BY deqs.last_execution_time DESC

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Posted in Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Function, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL System Table, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQL DMV ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/10/16/sql-server-recently-executed-t-sql-query/feed/ 0 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/23/sql-server-insert-values-of-stored-procedure-in-table-use-table-valued-function/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/23/sql-server-insert-values-of-stored-procedure-in-table-use-table-valued-function/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:30:24 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=6791 ]]>

I recently got many emails requesting to write a simple article.  I also got a request to explain different ways to insert the values from a stored procedure into a table. Let us quickly look at the conventional way of doing the same.

Please note that this only works with the stored procedure with only one resultset. Let us create a stored procedure that returns one resultset.

/* Create Stored Procedure */
CREATE PROCEDURE TestSP
AS
SELECT GETDATE() AS MyDate, 1 AS IntValue
UNION ALL
SELECT GETDATE()+1 AS MyDate, 2 AS IntValue
GO

Traditional Method:

/* Create TempTable */
CREATE TABLE #tempTable (MyDate SMALLDATETIME, IntValue INT)
GO
/* Run SP and Insert Value in TempTable */
INSERT INTO #tempTable (MyDate, IntValue)
EXEC TestSP
GO
/* SELECT from TempTable */
SELECT *
FROM #tempTable
GO
/* Clean up */
DROP TABLE #tempTable
GO

Alternate Method: Table Valued Function

/* Create table valued function*/
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.TestFn()
RETURNS @retTestFn TABLE
(
MyDate SMALLDATETIME,
IntValue INT
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @MyDate SMALLDATETIME
DECLARE @IntValue INT
INSERT INTO @retTestFn
SELECT GETDATE() AS MyDate, 1 AS IntValue
UNION ALL
SELECT GETDATE()+1 AS MyDate, 2 AS IntValue
RETURN;
END
GO
/* Select data from Table Valued Function */
SELECT *
FROM dbo.TestFn()
GO

It is clear from the resultset that option 2, where I have converted stored procedures logic into the table valued function, is much better in terms of logic as it saves a large number of operations. However, this option should be used carefully. Performance of the stored procedure is “usually” better than that of functions.

We will discuss in another post regarding the type of stored procedure that can be converted into a table valued function. Let me know what you all think about this post.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

In one of my recent articles, I mentioned the use of Table Valued Function (TVF) instead of Stored Procedure (SP). I received a follow up email asking what type of SP can be converted into a TVF. This is indeed a very interesting question! In fact, not all the SPs qualify to be converted to a TVF.

Please note that I am not encouraging to convert all the SPs to TVFs. Each SPs have their own usage and need. Here, I shall discuss about the type of SP that can be converted to a TVF.

First of all, you need to convert the SP that you are using to retrieve data and to insert it into any other table. Please read my original post wherein I have explained the scenario for the same. If you do not have to insert the data from the SP into another table, then there is no need to convert the SP to a TVF. This conversion will not necessarily enhance the performance.

In general, SP that returns only one resultset qualifies for conversion to TVF. If there are more than one resultset, then the SP cannot be converted to TVF as the TVF always returns one resultset. Moreover, if the SP has DML statements such as DELETE, UPDATE, INSERT or MERGE, it cannot be converted to a TVF. The usage of TVF is limited to the SELECT statement only. If the SP must be executed by using EXEC, it cannot be converted to TVF.

Do you know any other reason why a SP needs to be converted to a TVF?

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

I have seen scores of expert developers getting perplexed with SQL Server in finding time only from datetime datatype. Let us have a quick glance look at the solution.

SQL Server 2000/2005

SELECT
CONVERT(VARCHAR(8),GETDATE(),108) AS HourMinuteSecond,
CONVERT(VARCHAR(8),GETDATE(),101) AS DateOnly
GO

SQL Server 2008

SELECT
CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()) AS HourMinuteSecond,
CONVERT(DATE,GETDATE(),101) AS DateOnly
GO

I hope the above solution is clear to you all.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

The best part of any blog is when readers ask each other questions. Better still, is when a reader takes the time to provide a detailed response.

A few days ago, one of my readers, Yasmin, asked a very interesting question:

How we can find the list of tables whose identity was missed (not is sequential order) within the entire database?

A big thank you to SQL Server Expert, Imran Mohammed, for his excellent response to this question. He also provided an extremely impressive script, which is well described and contains inline comments.

This script is well worth keeping in your archive for future reference.

Download Script List All Missing Identity Values of Table in Database

If you and use the script, please comment here and let me know about your experience.

If you know any other way that this can be accomplished or have a different solution, please post your comment here, or send me an email and I will publish it with due credit.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

We often need to find the last running query or based on SPID need to know which query was executed. SPID is returns sessions ID of the current user process. The acronym SPID comes from the name of its earlier version, Server Process ID.

To know which sessions are running currently, run the following command:

SELECT @@SPID
GO

In our case, we got SPID 57, which means the session that is running this command has ID of 57.

Now, let us open another session and run the same command. Here we get different IDs for different sessions.

In our case, we got SPID 61. Please note here that this ID may or may not be sequential.

In session with SPID 61, we will run any query. In session with SPID 57, we will see which query was run in session with SPID 61.

Let us run a simple SELECT statement in session with SPID 61 and in session with SPID 57 run the following command.

DBCC INPUTBUFFER(61)
GO

Now, here in DBCC command we have passed the SPID of previous session; we will see the text below. The following image illustrates that we get the latest run query in our input buffer.

There are several ways to find out what is the latest run query from system table sys.sysprocesses.

DECLARE @sqltext VARBINARY(128)
SELECT @sqltext = sql_handle
FROM sys.sysprocesses
WHERE spid = 61
SELECT TEXT
FROM sys.dm_exec_sql_text(@sqltext)
GO


The following image portrays that we get the latest run query in our input buffer.

Please note that in any session there may be multiple running queries, but the buffer only saves the last query and that is what we will be able to retrieve.

There is one more way to achieve the same thing – using function fn_get_sql

DECLARE @sqltext VARBINARY(128)
SELECT @sqltext = sql_handle
FROM sys.sysprocesses
WHERE spid = 61
SELECT TEXT
FROM ::fn_get_sql(@sqltext)
GO

All the three methods are same but I always prefer method 2 where I have used sys.sysprocesses.

Today, we have explored a very simple topic. Let me know if you find it useful.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

I had previously penned down two popular snippets regarding deleting duplicate rows and counting duplicate rows. Today, we will examine another very quick code snippet where we will delete duplicate rows using CTE and ROW_NUMBER() feature of SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008.

This method is improved over the earlier method as it not only uses CTE and ROW_NUMBER, but also demonstrates the power of CTE with DELETE statement. We will have a comprehensive discussion about it later in this article. For now, let us first create a sample table from which we will delete records.

/* Create Table with 7 entries - 3 are duplicate entries */
CREATE TABLE DuplicateRcordTable (Col1 INT, Col2 INT)
INSERT INTO DuplicateRcordTable
SELECT 1, 1
UNION ALL
SELECT 1, 1 --duplicate
UNION ALL
SELECT 1, 1 --duplicate
UNION ALL
SELECT 1, 2
UNION ALL
SELECT 1, 2 --duplicate
UNION ALL
SELECT 1, 3
UNION ALL
SELECT 1, 4
GO

The above table has total 7 records, out of which 3 are duplicate records. Once the duplicates are removed we will have only 4 records left.

/* It should give you 7 rows */
SELECT *
FROM DuplicateRcordTable
GO

The most interesting part of this is yet to come. We will use CTE that will re-generate the same table with additional column, which is row number. In our case, we have Col1 and Col2 and both the columns qualify as duplicate rows. It may be a different set of rows for each different query like this. Another point to note here is that once CTE is created  DELETE statement can be run on it. We will put a condition here – when we receive more than one rows of record, we will remove the row which is not the first one. When DELETE command is executed over CTE it in fact deletes from the base table used in CTE.

/* Delete Duplicate records */
WITH CTE (COl1,Col2, DuplicateCount)
AS
(
SELECT COl1,Col2,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY COl1,Col2 ORDER BY Col1) AS DuplicateCount
FROM DuplicateRcordTable
)
DELETE
FROM CTE
WHERE DuplicateCount > 1
GO

It is apparent that after delete command has been run, we will have only 4 records, which is almost the same result which we would have got with DISTINCT, with this resultset. If we had more than 2 columns and we had to run unique on only two columns, our distinct might have not worked here . In this case, we would have to use above the mentioned method.

/* It should give you Distinct 4 records */
SELECT *
FROM DuplicateRcordTable
GO

This method is a breeze and we can use this for SQL Server version 2005 and the later versions.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Till date, I have met the SQL Server Product Team twice: first time at SQL Server MVP Meet, Seattle, and second time at TechEd India 2009, Hyderabad. At both the times, I have put forth one request to the product team regarding implementing of function Trim(). As per my opinion, this is the most demanded feature of SQL Server. Almost all the programming languages have function TRIM() which removes space leading and any word that follows. However, SQL Server does not have TRIM() function. It has LTRIM() and RTRIM() functions, which when combined together LTRIM(RTRIM()) works like the expected TRIM() function – which I am proposing.

I have submitted the connect item for requesting TRIM() function. I am requesting all the users to vote for connect item and bring it up to the notice of SQL Server Product Group.

Microsoft Connect SQL Server – Feature Request TRIM()

If you are a SQL Server DBA you can think of the benefits you will gain after this function is implemented; you will save time and energy and there will be no more frustration! It is our moral duty to spread the word for this item and vote for implementation of this feature.

I had previously written the following three articles, which covers workaround, tricks and enhanced functions related to TRIM().

SQL SERVER – TRIM() Function – UDF TRIM()

SQL SERVER – 2008 – TRIM() Function – User Defined Function

SQL SERVER – 2008 – Enhenced TRIM() Function – Remove Trailing Spaces, Leading Spaces, White Space, Tabs, Carriage Returns, Line Feeds

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Let us first try to grasp the definition of the two keys.

Candidate Key – A Candidate Key can be any column or a combination of columns that can qualify as unique key in database. There can be multiple Candidate Keys in one table. Each Candidate Key can qualify as Primary Key.

Primary Key – A Primary Key is a column or a combination of columns that uniquely identify a record. Only one Candidate Key can be Primary Key.

One needs to be very careful in selecting the Primary Key as an incorrect selection can adversely impact the database architect and future normalization. For a Candidate Key to qualify as a Primary Key, it should be Non-NULL and unique in any domain. I have observed quite often that Primary Keys are seldom changed. I would like to have your feedback on not changing a Primary Key.

I have illustrates the difference between a candidate key and a primary key in SQL Server.

1 Introduction
2 An Example to Understand Keys
2.1 Select a key that does not contain NULL
2.2 Select a key that is unique and does not repeat
2.3 Make sure that Primary Key does not keep changing
3 Selection of Primary Key
4 Quick Note on Other Kinds of Keys
5 Summary

Read Complete Article Here

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I work in an environment wherein I connect to multiple servers across the world. Time and again, my SSMS is connected to a myriad of servers that kindles a lot of confusion. I frequently use the following trick to separate different connections, which I mentioned in my blog sometime back SQL SERVER – 2008 – Change Color of Status Bar of SSMS Query Editor. However, this trick does not help when a huge number of different connections are open. In such a case, I use the following handy script. Do not go by the length of the script; it might be very short but always works great!

Now, let’s take a look at the execution of this script in two different scenarios.

1) Logged in using SQL Authentication

SELECT HOST_NAME() AS HostName, SUSER_NAME() LoggedInUser

2) Logged in using Windows Authentication

SELECT HOST_NAME() AS HostName, SUSER_NAME() LoggedInUser

It is quite evident from both the above cases that we get correct logged-in username and hostname. Let me know if this script is helpful to you when you face a similar situation.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I have received few emails asking how to prefix any number with zero. I have previously written two articles for the same subject. Please refer to my previous articles.

SQL SERVER – Pad Ride Side of Number with 0 – Fixed Width Number Display

SQL SERVER – UDF – Pad Ride Side of Number with 0 – Fixed Width Number Display

Let me know if you are aware of any other method.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I recently had requirement to create list of all the SQL Server on local network. I remembered that I had written similar script a year ago SQL SERVER – Script to Find SQL Server on Network. When I looked at it, I realize that I had written it for SQL Server 2000 and used “isql” utility, which is deprecated now. I quickly wrote down updated script using “sqlcmd”. Command “osql” still works in SQL Server 2008.

Go to command prompt and type in “osql -L” or “sqlcmd -L”.

Note one change between osql and sqlcmd is that osql has additional server “(local)” listed in the servers list which is in fact same as “SQL” in my case. While “sqlcmd” gives accurate result.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I had written article SQL SERVER – Pad Ride Side of Number with 0 – Fixed Width Number Display few days ago. Previous article was answer to the email which I had received:

Dear Pinal,

I have situation where I need to display my numbers in fixed format. Like

1 as 0000001
109 as 0000109
0987 as 0000987

Is there any string function in SQL Server which can do this?

I had asked my blog readers to participate at the end of the article and I have received three very good suggestions. I am going to list all the three suggestions here. For me all the three suggestions are equally good. I suggest my readers to use any suggestion which they find easy to understand. I suggest to read my previous article before continuing this article further.

Solution 1 by Imran Mohammed

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.FnExample
(
@Size INT,
@Column_Value VARCHAR(MAX)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
-- Add the SELECT statement with parameter references here
SELECT RIGHT(REPLICATE(0, @Size)
+ CONVERT (VARCHAR(MAX), @Column_Value), @Size) AS ID
)
GO
-- Run following script to see output
SELECT * FROM dbo.FnExample (7, 123)
GO

Solution 2 by Fenil Desai

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[f_pad_before]
( @string VARCHAR(255),
@desired_length INTEGER,
@pad_character CHAR(1))
RETURNS VARCHAR(255) AS
BEGIN
/* Prefix the required number of spaces to bulk up the string and
then replace the spaces with the desired character */
RETURN LTRIM(RTRIM(
CASE
WHEN LEN(@string) < @desired_length
THEN REPLACE(SPACE(@desired_length - LEN(@string)), ' ', @pad_character) + @string
ELSE @string
END
))
END
GO
-- Run following script to see output
SELECT dbo.f_pad_before('123',7,'0')
GO

Solution 3 by CodeMonkey

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.PadLeft
(@Value INT, @PadWidth INT, @PadChar CHAR(1))
RETURNS VARCHAR(255)
AS
BEGIN
RETURN ISNULL(REPLICATE(@PadChar, @PadWidth - LEN(@Value)), '')
+ CAST(@Value AS VARCHAR)
END
GO
-- Run following script to see output
SELECT dbo.PadLeft(123,7,0)
GO

Answer of all of the above script will be ‘0000123′.

Again, I want to congratulate all three of my reader to participate in this interesting puzzle and would like to encourage other readers to participate in similar puzzles like this.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Today we will look something which is very quick and but quite frequently useful string operation over numeric datatype. This article is written based on question asked by one of the user (name not disclosed as per request).

Email was received as following:

Dear Pinal,

I have situation where I need to display my numbers in fixed format. Like

1 as 0000001
109 as 0000109
0987 as 0000987

Is there any string function in SQL Server which can do this?

There is no ready made function in SQL Server which offers this solution but we can quickly write up something very simple. I have use AdventureWorks database for our example purpose. I have noticed that some developers does not use CAST function but I strongly suggest to use it as if CAST function is not used and your column is of numeric datatype it will give errors.

USE AdventureWorks
GO
SELECT TOP 10 ContactID
FROM Person.Contact
GO
/* Method 1 Using RIGHT function*/
SELECT TOP 10 RIGHT('0000000'
+ CAST(ContactID AS VARCHAR(7)), 7) PaddedContactID
FROM Person.Contact
GO
/* Method 2 Using RIGHT AND REPLICATE function*/
SELECT TOP 10 RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 7)
+ CAST(ContactID AS VARCHAR(7)), 7) PaddedContactID
FROM Person.Contact
GO

Following image demonstrates the result of above two methods.

If you prefer you can create UDF for the same. I would encourage my readers to submit the UDF for satisfying following criteria using code provided above.
UDF should take a parameter ‘Total Width of Number (in our example it is 7).

I will publish the reader who posts first correct answer to this UDF on this blog with due credit.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Just a day ago I received email from reader how to get single random number for range of rows of any table. The question was not very clear to me so I had asked him to send me question in simpler words. He sent me question back in simple words. Let us understand this problem using database AdventureWorks.

In AdventureWorks database we have table called Person.Address. How to get single random number generated for PostalCode ‘98011′ and another single random number for PostalCode ‘98033′. So far I have never received scenario like this. I had previously faced situation where I had to genrate new random number for each row of table.

Let us understand two scenarios here.

Different Random Number for Different Rows (Using NEWID())

USE AdventureWorks
GO
SELECT TOP 5 NEWID() AS GUID, *
FROM Person.Address
GO

Single Random Number for Set of Rows (Using RAND())

USE AdventureWorks
GO
SELECT TOP 5 RAND() AS RandomNumber, *
FROM Person.Address
WHERE PostalCode = '98011'
GO
SELECT TOP 5 RAND() AS RandomNumber, *
FROM Person.Address
WHERE PostalCode = '98033'
GO

I have sent email back to my reader asking his need for single random number for set of rows in real world example but I have not received his reply. I want to bring this to my readers and ask them what do you think can be usage of this concept in real life application.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I love reader’s contribution this blog as that brings variety in articles. I encourage my readers to provide their contribution and I will publish then with their name.

Blog Reader Ashish Jain has posted very simple script which will remove duplicate entry from comma delimited string. User Defined Function has very simple logic behind it. It takes comma delimited string and then converts it to table and runs DISTINCT operation on the table. DISTINCT operation removes duplicate value. After that it converts the table again into the string and it can be used.

I have modified original contribution from Ashish so now it completely covers the subject intended to cover. I would suggest that this UDF should be kept handy to perform this tedious task easily.

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.DistinctList
(
@List VARCHAR(MAX),
@Delim CHAR
)
RETURNS
VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @ParsedList TABLE
(
Item VARCHAR(MAX)
)
DECLARE @list1 VARCHAR(MAX), @Pos INT, @rList VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @list = LTRIM(RTRIM(@list)) + @Delim
SET @pos = CHARINDEX(@delim, @list, 1)
WHILE @pos > 0
BEGIN
SET @list1 = LTRIM(RTRIM(LEFT(@list, @pos - 1)))
IF @list1 <> ''
INSERT INTO @ParsedList VALUES (CAST(@list1 AS VARCHAR(MAX)))
SET @list = SUBSTRING(@list, @pos+1, LEN(@list))
SET @pos = CHARINDEX(@delim, @list, 1)
END
SELECT @rlist = COALESCE(@rlist+',','') + item
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT Item FROM @ParsedList) t
RETURN @rlist
END
GO
SELECT dbo.DistinctList('342,34,456,34,3454,456,aa,bb,cc,aa',',') DistinctList
GO

I encourage my readers to send their contribution as well so I can include their contribution as well.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Previously I posted SQL SERVER – Find Row Count in Table – Find Largest Table in Database – T-SQL. Today we will look into the same issue but with some additional interesting detail.
We can find the row count using another system SP sp_spaceused. This SP gives additional information regarding disk space reserved on database as well. Well, when I ran the SP on AdventureWorks first time, I suspected that database SP is not providing me correct results.

After a bit investigating I found that it may be possible that due to any reason may be the usage on AdventureWorks database might not be updated. I ran same SP with additional param as shown below and it provided me updated information for the same. Once I ran the SP with @updateusage param, it updated the status of the database. When I ran it again next time without param it gave the same results.

The reason for above behavior is when dellocation of space happened in database (e.g. dropping table or truncating table) it does not release the used space right away. However, when @updateusage param is used database engine scans whole database and update the sapce usage in respective tables.
Let me know if you guys have any interesting observation like this.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

A year ago I wrote post about SQL SERVER – Retrieve – Select Only Date Part From DateTime – Best Practice where I have discussed two different methods of getting datepart from datetime.

Method 1:
SELECT DATEADD(D, 0, DATEDIFF(D, 0, GETDATE()))

Method 2:
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(10),GETDATE(),111)

I have summarized my post suggesting that either method works fine and I prefer to use Method 2. However, with additional tests and looking at SQL Server internals very carefully, I want to suggest that Method 1 is better in terms of performance. While running on GETDATE() both of the above functions are equally fast and efficient. However, when above query is ran on very large data table performance different is visible.

For testing purpose I have ran few queries where I am getting same result.

Run Following query 10 times with client statistics on ( Shift+Alter+S) in SSMS.

USE AdventureWorks
GO
SELECT DATEADD(d, 0, DATEDIFF(d, 0, StartDate))
FROM Production.WorkOrder
GO

Now run another query 10 times with client statistics on.

USE AdventureWorks
GO
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(10),StartDate,111)
FROM Production.WorkOrder
GO

While looking at the average of statistics in it is clear that first query with DATEADD is much more efficient.

Let us compare both of the above script together and see the client statistics.

While comparing Numbers of Bytes sent across client and server as well client processing time, and total execution time in all case DATEADD is better. I suggest all my readers to use DATEADD when only DATEPART is required.

If you are using SQL Server 2008 it has new DATE datatype which does not have time part. I suggest to use DATE datatype or TIME datatype for users of SQL Server 2008. Read more SQL SERVER – 2008 – New DataTypes DATE and TIME.

If you want your date in any other format refer the UDF SQL SERVER – Get Date Time in Any Format – UDF – User Defined Functions.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

SQL is great with String operations. Many times, I use T-SQL to do my string operation. Let us see User Defined Function, which I wrote few days ago, which will return only Numeric values from AlphaNumeric values.

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.udf_GetNumeric
(@strAlphaNumeric VARCHAR(256))
RETURNS VARCHAR(256)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @intAlpha INT
SET @intAlpha = PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%', @strAlphaNumeric)
BEGIN
WHILE @intAlpha > 0
BEGIN
SET @strAlphaNumeric = STUFF(@strAlphaNumeric, @intAlpha, 1, '' )
SET @intAlpha = PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%', @strAlphaNumeric )
END
END
RETURN ISNULL(@strAlphaNumeric,0)
END
GO

/* Run the UDF with different test values */
SELECT dbo.udf_GetNumeric('') AS 'EmptyString';
SELECT dbo.udf_GetNumeric('asdf1234a1s2d3f4@@@') AS 'asdf1234a1s2d3f4@@@';
SELECT dbo.udf_GetNumeric('123456') AS '123456';
SELECT dbo.udf_GetNumeric('asdf') AS 'asdf';
SELECT dbo.udf_GetNumeric(NULL) AS 'NULL';
GO

As result of above script self explainary, I will be not describing it in detail. If you use any alternative method to do the same task, please let me know.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

After reading my article SQL SERVER – 2008 – TRIM() Function – User Defined Function, I have received email and comments where user are asking if it is possible to remove trailing spaces, leading spaces, white space, tabs, carriage returns, line feeds etc.

I found following script posted by Russ and Erik. It is modified a bit from original script.

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.LTrimX(@str VARCHAR(MAX)) RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @trimchars VARCHAR(10)
SET @trimchars = CHAR(9)+CHAR(10)+CHAR(13)+CHAR(32)
IF @str LIKE '[' + @trimchars + ']%' SET @str = SUBSTRING(@str, PATINDEX('%[^' + @trimchars + ']%', @str), 8000)
RETURN @str
END
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.RTrimX(@str VARCHAR(MAX)) RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @trimchars VARCHAR(10)
SET @trimchars = CHAR(9)+CHAR(10)+CHAR(13)+CHAR(32)
IF @str LIKE '%[' + @trimchars + ']'
SET @str = REVERSE(dbo.LTrimX(REVERSE(@str)))
RETURN @str
END
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.TrimX(@str VARCHAR(MAX)) RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
RETURN dbo.LTrimX(dbo.RTrimX(@str))
END
GO
/* Run the created function */
SELECT dbo.TRIMX('         word leading trailing spaces           ') AS 'TrimmedWord'
GO

Running above function will give you result where there is no white spaces or any other while space like chars.

Let me know what you think about this and if this can be improved further.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)