Remove all spaces from a string in SQL Server

Question

What is the best way to remove all spaces from a string in SQL Server 2008?

LTRIM(RTRIM(\' a b \')) would remove all spaces at the right and left of th

Answer 1

Just in case you need to TRIM spaces in all columns, you could use this script to do it dynamically:

--Just change table name
declare @MyTable varchar(100)
set @MyTable = 'MyTable'

--temp table to get column names and a row id
select column_name, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY column_name) as id into #tempcols from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS 
WHERE   DATA_TYPE IN ('varchar', 'nvarchar') and TABLE_NAME = @MyTable

declare @tri int
select @tri = count(*) from #tempcols
declare @i int
select @i = 0
declare @trimmer nvarchar(max)
declare @comma varchar(1)
set @comma = ', '

--Build Update query
select @trimmer = 'UPDATE [dbo].[' + @MyTable + '] SET '

WHILE @i <= @tri 
BEGIN

    IF (@i = @tri)
        BEGIN
        set @comma = ''
        END
    SELECT  @trimmer = @trimmer + CHAR(10)+ '[' + COLUMN_NAME + '] = LTRIM(RTRIM([' + COLUMN_NAME + ']))'+@comma
    FROM    #tempcols
    where id = @i

    select @i = @i+1
END

--execute the entire query
EXEC sp_executesql @trimmer

drop table #tempcols

Answer 2

replace(replace(column_Name,CHAR(13),''),CHAR(10),'')

Answer 3

I had this issue today and replace / trim did the trick..see below.

update table_foo 
set column_bar  = REPLACE(LTRIM(RTRIM(column_bar)), '  ', '')

before and after :

old-bad:  column_bar    |   New-fixed:   column_bar
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz'   
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 

Answer 4

To remove the spaces in a string left and right. To remove space in middle use Replace.

You can use RTRIM() to remove spaces from the right and LTRIM() to remove spaces from the left hence left and right spaces removed as follows:

SELECT * FROM table WHERE LTRIM(RTRIM(username)) = LTRIM(RTRIM("Bob alias baby"))

Answer 5

A functional version (udf) that removes spaces, cr, lf, tabs or configurable.

select Common.ufn_RemoveWhitespace(' 234   asdf   wefwef 3  x   ', default) as S

Result: '234asdfwefwef3x'

alter function Common.RemoveWhitespace
(
    @pString nvarchar(max),
    @pWhitespaceCharsOpt nvarchar(max) = null -- default: tab, lf, cr, space 
)  
returns nvarchar(max) as
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Purpose:   Compress whitespace

    Example:  select Common.ufn_RemoveWhitespace(' 234   asdf   wefwef 3  x   ', default) as s 
              -- Result: 234asdfwefwef3x

    Modified    By          Description
    ----------  ----------- --------------------------------------------------------------------
    2018.07.24  crokusek    Initial Version 
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/ 
begin    
    declare 
        @maxLen bigint = 1073741823, -- (2^31 - 1) / 2 (https://stackoverflow.com/a/4270085/538763)
        @whitespaceChars nvarchar(30) = coalesce(
            @pWhitespaceCharsOpt, 
            char(9) + char(10) + char(13) + char(32));  -- tab, lf, cr, space

    declare
        @whitespacePattern nvarchar(30) = '%[' + @whitespaceChars + ']%',
        @nonWhitespacePattern nvarchar(30) = '%[^' + @whitespaceChars + ']%',
        @previousString nvarchar(max) = '';

    while (@pString != @previousString)
    begin
        set @previousString = @pString;

        declare
            @whiteIndex int = patindex(@whitespacePattern, @pString);

        if (@whiteIndex > 0)
        begin                   
            declare 
                @whitespaceLength int = nullif(patindex(@nonWhitespacePattern, substring(@pString, @whiteIndex, @maxLen)), 0) - 1;                

            set @pString = 
                substring(@pString, 1, @whiteIndex - 1) + 
                iif(@whiteSpaceLength > 0, substring(@pString, @whiteIndex + @whiteSpaceLength, @maxLen), '');
        end        
    end        
    return @pString;
end
go