LIKE with a leading wildcard reads the whole table. A small side table of words turns that scan into a quick lookup, and you do not need full-text installed.
Multi-Value Report Parameters in T-SQL Without Dynamic SQL
A report that sends 1, 2, 2, 3 does not need dynamic SQL. Here is how to split, validate and match the list safely.
Storing Emoji and Short Messages: nvarchar, UTF-8 and Length
Store emoji safely with nvarchar or UTF-8 varchar, compare LEN and DATALENGTH, and choose message limits that fit full Unicode.
Cleaning Messy Data With T-SQL
Cleaning messy data With T-SQL means trimming text, parsing dates safely, and preserving rejected source rows for correction and replay.
CHAR, VARCHAR, NVARCHAR and VARCHAR(MAX) Quiz: How Many Bytes?
This CHAR, VARCHAR, NVARCHAR and VARCHAR(MAX) Quiz stores the text abc in three columns and asks how many bytes each one uses. The answer is 10, 3 and 6. A tested script proves it and shows the trailing space trap, the question mark problem and the 8,000 byte limit.
Collation Sensitivity Quiz: Does ‘jose’ Match ‘José’?
This Collation Sensitivity Quiz asks whether jose matches JOSE and José in a case-insensitive, accent-sensitive database. The answer is JOSE yes, José no. A tested script compares three collations and shows the width and kana settings too.
SQL SERVER 2012 – String Function CONCAT() – A Quick Introduction
SQL Server 2012 adds the String Function CONCAT(), which joins two or more values into one string. Examples show how it handles numbers, dates and NULLs.