sql string space padding

Just a thought ... why do you need len(ColumnA) = 10?  
Left or right padded spaces?

If you're doing this for an export, to guarantee ten spaces you can use ColumnA + SPACE(10 - Len(ColumnA))

I have a program that only works if the length of that column is 10.

you can use DataLength:

DECLARE @x CHAR(10)
SET @x = 'tom'
SELECT @x, LEN(@x), DATALENGTH(@x)

Select allOpen in new window

LEN(columnA + '.') - 1

The potential issue with DATALENGTH is if you ever change the data type to nchar(10), you'll get "20" as the result instead of "10".


SELECT LEN(columnA + '.') - 1
FROM (
    SELECT CAST('George' AS char(10)) AS columnA UNION ALL
    SELECT CAST('Tom' AS char(10)) AS columnA UNION ALL
    SELECT CAST('David' AS char(10)) AS columnA
) AS test_data

Sorry i wasnt clear. My issue is not what len() returns its just that i want my column to be padded with trailing spaces such that it always adds up to 10 chars.

So David should be David and the 5 spaces after it
Tom would have 7 spaces after it

>So David should be David and the 5 spaces after it
The T-SQL I posted in the first comment does that,

LEFT(columnA + SPACE(10), 10)

@Scott, I test tried that but unfortunately it doesn't pass the litmus test. of:

LEN (  LEFT(columnA + SPACE(10), 10)  )

still getting various sizes based on the values in the columnA

>still getting various sizes based on the values in the columnA
Please give us a sample data set of ColumnA values, and what your expected results are.

Sorry i didnt know that len() ignors all trailing spaces. Is there another test i use to check?

My version is:

SELECT LEN(columnA + '.') - 1

putting a non-space at the end so SQL counts all characters from the column, including trailing spaces.  Adding a '.' of course changes the trailing spaces into embedded spaces, and thus they are no longer ignored.

thanks but I don't want an embedded space '.' at the end of the value, I only want enough spaces to fill a 10 char field.
Len() ignores trailing spaces.
is there another length function or nested functions that can count the trailing spaces in a string?

I'm subtracting 1 from the length to drop the '.' back out; the '.' is just being used to force a non-space character at the end of the value so that LEN() can count all the other chars.

Correct but not exactly what im looking for. I guess i was looking for a test to prove that the field is in fact 10 chars in length.  I thought there would be a function that does count trailing spaces but maybe im wrong. Anyway thanks for your help.