Normalize unicode string in SQL Server?

Question

Is there a function in SQL Server to normalize a unicode string? e.g.

UPDATE Orders SET Notes = NormalizeString(Notes, \'FormC\')

Unicode

Answer 1

try this CLR function

using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;

public partial class UserDefinedFunctions
{
    [Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlFunction]
    public static SqlString fnRemoveDiacritics(string text)
    {
        string stringFormD = text.Normalize(System.Text.NormalizationForm.FormD);
        System.Text.StringBuilder retVal = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
        for (int index = 0; index < stringFormD.Length; index++)
        {
            if (System.Globalization.CharUnicodeInfo.GetUnicodeCategory(stringFormD[index]) != System.Globalization.UnicodeCategory.NonSpacingMark)
                retVal.Append(stringFormD[index]);
        }
        return retVal.ToString().Normalize(System.Text.NormalizationForm.FormC);
    }
}

and in SQL

SELECT dbo.fnRemoveDiacritics('Äěščřžýáíé')
-- Returns: Aescrzyaie

thanks to http://www.dotnetportal.cz/blogy/4/Tomas-Jecha/663/NET-Tip-6-Ciste-odstraneni-diakritiky