TRIM (Transact-SQL)

01/20/2017
2 minutes to read
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APPLIES TO: yes

SQL Server (starting with 2017) yes

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Removes the space character char(32) or other specified characters from the start or end of a string.

Syntax

TRIM ( [ characters FROM ] string )

Arguments

characters
Is a literal, variable, or function call of any non-LOB character type (nvarchar, varchar, nchar, or char) containing characters that should be removed. nvarchar(max) and varchar(max) types are not allowed.

string
Is an expression of any character type (nvarchar, varchar, nchar, or char) where characters should be removed.

Return Types

Returns a character expression with a type of string argument where the space character char(32) or other specified characters are removed from both sides. Returns NULL if input string is NULL.

Remarks

By default TRIM function removes the space character char(32) from both sides. This is equivalent to LTRIM(RTRIM(@string)). Behavior of TRIM function with specified characters is identical to behavior of REPLACE function where characters from start or end are replaced with empty strings.

Examples

A. Removes the space character from both sides of string

The following example removes spaces from before and after the word test.

SELECT TRIM( '     test    ') AS Result;

Here is the result set.

test

B. Removes specified characters from both sides of string

The following example removes a trailing period and trailing spaces.

SELECT TRIM( '.,! ' FROM  '#     test    .') AS Result;