How to Concatenate Numbers and Strings to Format Numbers in T-SQL?

Question

I have the following function

ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[ActualWeightDIMS]
(
    -- Add the parameters for the function here
    @ActualWeight int,
    @Actual_D         


        

Answer 1

Change this:

SET @ActualWeightDIMS= @Actual_Dims_Lenght + 'x' + 
    @Actual_Dims_Width + 'x' + @Actual_Dims_Height;

To this:

SET @ActualWeightDIMS= CAST(@Actual_Dims_Lenght as varchar(3)) + 'x' + 
    CAST(@Actual_Dims_Width as varchar(3)) + 'x' + 
    CAST(@Actual_Dims_Height as varchar(3));

Change this:

SET @ActualWeightDIMS = @ActualWeight;

To this:

SET @ActualWeightDIMS = CAST(@ActualWeight as varchar(50));

You need to use CAST. Learn all about CAST and CONVERT here, because data types are important!

Answer 2

A couple of quick notes:

• It's "length" not "lenght"
• Table aliases in your query would probably make it a lot more readable

Now onto the problem...

You need to explicitly convert your parameters to VARCHAR before trying to concatenate them. When SQL Server sees @my_int + 'X' it thinks you're trying to add the number "X" to @my_int and it can't do that. Instead try:

SET @ActualWeightDIMS =
     CAST(@Actual_Dims_Lenght AS VARCHAR(16)) + 'x' +
     CAST(@Actual_Dims_Width  AS VARCHAR(16)) + 'x' +
     CAST(@Actual_Dims_Height  AS VARCHAR(16))

Answer 3

You must cast your integers as string when trying to concatenate them into a varchar.

i.e.

 SELECT  @ActualWeightDIMS = CAST(@Actual_Dims_Lenght AS varchar(10)) 
                              + 'x' + 
                             CAST(@Actual_Dims_Width as varchar(10)) 
                             + 'x' + CAST(@Actual_Dims_Height as varchar(10));

In SQL Server 2008, you can use the STR function:

   SELECT  @ActualWeightDIMS = STR(@Actual_Dims_Lenght) 
                              + 'x' + STR(@Actual_Dims_Width) 
                              + 'x' + STR(@Actual_Dims_Height);

Answer 4

If you are using SQL Server 2012+ you can use CONCAT function in which we don't have to do any explicit conversion

SET @ActualWeightDIMS = Concat(@Actual_Dims_Lenght, 'x', @Actual_Dims_Width, 'x' 
                        , @Actual_Dims_Height) 

Answer 5

select 'abcd' + ltrim(str(1)) + ltrim(str(2))

Answer 6

You need to CAST your numeric data to strings before you do string concatenation, so for example use CAST(@Actual_Dims_Lenght AS VARCHAR) instead of just @Actual_Dims_Lenght, &c.