Built in Functions in SQL – Server

STRING Functions
Sr.
Function
No
1 Use: Returns the ASCII code value of the leftmost character of a
int ASCII ( character) character expression.

Example : select Left(firstname,1 ), ASCII(Left(firstname,1 )) from

employees
2 Use: A string function that converts an int ASCII code to a character.
char CHAR ( integer)
Example : select productid, char(productid) from products where
productid >= 65
3 int CHARINDEX ( expression1 , Use: Returns the starting position of the specified expression in a
expression2 [ , start_location ] ) character string. If either expression1 or expression2 is NULL,
CHARINDEX returns NULL.

If expression1 is not found within expression2, CHARINDEX returns 0

Example : select productname, CHARINDEX('a', productname) from

products
4 Use: Returns the starting position of the first occurrence of a pattern in a
int PATINDEX ( '%pattern%' , specified expression, or zeros if the pattern is not found, on all valid text
expression ) and character data types. Pattern, is a literal string. Wildcard characters
can be used; however, the % character must precede and follow pattern
(except when searching for first or last characters). pattern is an
expression of the short character data type category. Expression, is an
expression, usually a column that is searched for the specified pattern.
expression is of the character string data type category.

Example : select productname, charindex('_a', productname),

patindex('%a_%', productname) from products

select productname, patindex('%_ _%', productname) from products

5 Use: Returns the part of a character string starting at a specified number
char LEFT ( of characters from the left.
character_expression ,
integer_expression ) Example : select firstname, Left(firstname,2 ) from employees
6 char RIGHT ( Use: Returns the part of a character string starting at a specified number
character_expression , of characters from the right.
integer_expression )
Example : select firstname, right(firstname,2 ) from employees

7 Use: Returns the number of characters, rather than the number of bytes,
int LEN ( string_expression ) of the given string expression, excluding trailing blanks.

Example : select firstname, len(firstname ) from employees

8 Use: Returns a character expression after converting character data to
varchar LOWER ( lowercase.
character_expression )
Example : select firstname, lower(firstname ) from employees
9 Use: Returns a character expression after converting character data to
varchar UPPER ( uppercase.
character_expression )
Example : select firstname, upper(firstname ) from employees
Sr.
Function
No
10 Use: Returns a character expression after removing leading blanks.
varchar LTRIM (
character_expression ) Example : select firstname, LTRIM(firstname ) from employees

11 Use: Returns a character expression after removing all trailing blanks.

varchar RTRIM (
character_expression ) Example : select firstname, RTRIM (firstname ) from employees

12 Use: Returns the Unicode character with the given integer code, as
char NCHAR ( defined by the Unicode standard. integer_expression , is a positive whole
integer_expression ) number from 0 through 65535. If a value outside this range is specified,
NULL is returned.

Example : select nchar(123) '123' , nchar(255) from employees

13 int UNICODE Use: Returns the integer value, as defined by the Unicode standard, for the
( 'ncharacter_expression' ) first character of the input expression.

Example : select firstname, unicode(left(firstname,1)) from employees

14 Use: Replaces all occurrences of the second given string expression in the
varchar REPLACE first string expression with a third expression.
( 'string_expression1' ,
'string_expression2' , Example : select productname, replace(productname, 'a', '@') from
'string_expression3' ) products

select productname, replace(replace(productname,'s','$'), 'a', '@') from

products
15 Use: Repeats a character expression for a specified number of times.
varchar REPLICATE (
character_expression , Example : select firstname, replicate(firstname+' - ',3) from employees
integer_expression )
16 Use: Returns the reverse of a character expression.
varchar REVERSE (
character_expression ) Example : select firstname, reverse(firstname) from employees

17 varchar SPACE ( Use: Returns a string of repeated spaces.

integer_expression )
Example : select firstname+ space(10)+lastname from employees
same as
select firstname+’ +lastname from employees
18 Use: Returns part of a character, binary, text, or expression
varchar SUBSTRING (
expression , start , length ) Example : select productname, substring(productname, 3, 5) from
products
 Mathematical Functions
Sr.
Function
No
1 Use: Returns the absolute, positive value of the given numeric
number ABS ( expression.
numeric_expression )
Example : SELECT ABS(-1.0), ABS(0.0), ABS(1.0)
2 number SIN ( float_expression ) Use: Returns the trigonometric sine of the given angle (in radians) in an
approximate numeric (float) expression.

Example : SELECT sin(90)

3 number COS ( float_expression ) Use: Returns the trigonometric cosine of the given angle (in radians) in
an approximate numeric (float) expression.

Example : SELECT cos(90)

4 number TAN( float_expression ) Use: Returns the trigonometric tan of the given angle (in radians) in an
approximate numeric (float) expression.

Example : SELECT tan(90)

5 number CEILING ( Use: Returns the smallest integer greater than, or equal to, the given
numeric_expression ) numeric expression.

Example : select unitprice, unitprice+(unitprice*0.10) 'New Price',

ceiling(unitprice+(unitprice*0.10)) from products
6 number FLOOR ( Use: Returns the largest integer less than or equal to the given numeric
numeric_expression ) expression.

Example : select unitprice, unitprice+(unitprice*0.10) 'New Price',

ceiling(unitprice+(unitprice*0.10)), floor(unitprice+(unitprice*0.10))
from products
7 Use: Returns the constant value of PI.
number PI()
Example : select pi()
8 Use: Returns the value of the given expression to the specified power.
number POWER (
numeric_expression , y ) Example : select Power(11,2)
9 Use: Returns the square of the given expression.
number SQUARE(
numeric_expression , y ) Example : select SQUARE(10)
10 number SQRT ( float_expression ) Use: Returns the square root of the given expression.

Example : select SQRT(10)

10 number RAND( ) Use: Returns the Random number between 0 - 1

Example : select RAND(10)

 DATE & TIME Functions
Sr.
FUNCTION
No
1 Use: Returns the current system data and time.
datetime GETDATE ( )
Example : select getdate()

2 Use: Returns an integer representing the day datepart of the specified

int DAY ( date ) date.

Example : select day(getdate())

3 Use: Returns an integer that represents the month part of a specified
int MONTH(date) date.

Example : select SQRT(10)

4 Use: Returns an integer that represents the YEAR part of a specified
int YEAR(date) date.

Example : select SQRT(10)

5 int DATEPART ( datepart , date ) Use: Returns an integer representing the specified datepart of the
specified date.
Example :

year yy, yyyy

select datepart(yy,getdate())
quarter qq, q
select datepart(qq,getdate())
month mm, m
select datepart(mm,getdate())
dayofyear dy, y
select datepart(dy,getdate())
day dd, d
select datepart(dd,getdate())
week wk, ww
select datepart(ww,getdate())
weekday dw
select datepart(dw,getdate())
hour hh
select datepart(hh,getdate())
minute mi, n
select datepart(mi,getdate())
second ss, s
select datepart(ss,getdate())
millisecond ms
select datepart(ms,getdate())
5 Use: Returns a new datetime value based on adding an interval to the
int DATEADD(datepart , number, specified date.
date )
Example : select hiredate, dateadd(yy, 25, hiredate) retirement from
employees
6 varchar DATENAME ( datepart , Use: Returns a character string representing the specified datepart of the
date ) specified date.

Example : select datename(dw, hiredate) from employees

7 Use: Returns the number of date and time boundaries crossed between
int DATEDIFF ( datepart , two specified dates.
startdate , enddate )
Example : select datediff(yy, birthdate, hiredate) from employees