PADLEFT
Updated: 30 April 2009
Use PADLEFT to place characters at the beginning of a string of text, when the length of the text is less than the specified width.
Syntax
SELECT [wctString].[wct].[PADLEFT] (
<@Text, nvarchar(max),>
,<@TotalWidth, int,>
,<@PaddingChar, nvarchar(1),>)
Arguments
@Text
the text to be padded. The @Text argument can be of data types that are implicitly convertible to nvarchar or ntext.
@TotalWidth
the minimum length of the result, including padding. The @Totalwidth argument can be an expression of types that are implicitly convertible to int.
@PaddingChar
the character to be used for padding. The @PaddingChar argument can be of data types that are implicitly convertible to nvarchar or ntext.
Return Types
nvarchar(max)
Remarks
· If LEN(@Text) ≥ @TotalWidth, then @Text is returned.
· If @TotalWidth < 0, then an error is returned.
· If @TotalWidth is NULL, then an error is returned.
· If @PaddingChar is null, then SPACE is used.
· If @PaddingChar is blank, then SPACE is used.
· If you want to indent @Text, consider using the INDENT function.
Examples
select wct.PADLEFT('abc'
,10
,' ')
This produces the following result
------------------
abc
(1 row(s) affected)