Reputation: 1895

Remove Trailing Spaces and Update in Columns in SQL Server

I have trailing spaces in a column in a SQL Server table called Company Name.

All data in this column has trailing spaces.

I want to remove all those, and I want to have the data without any trailing spaces.

The company name is like "Amit Tech Corp "

I want the company name to be "Amit Tech Corp"

Upvotes: 182

Answers (15)

rs.

Reputation: 27467

Try SELECT LTRIM(RTRIM('Amit Tech Corp '))

LTRIM - removes any leading spaces from left side of string

RTRIM - removes any spaces from right

In SQL Server 2017 or later:

TRIM - removes any spaces from left and right

Ex:

update table set CompanyName = LTRIM(RTRIM(CompanyName))

Upvotes: 368

Marek Pio

Reputation: 127

TrimShort.sql

/* Summary: Trims the data of selected columns in a selected table
* Works for: SQL Server Management Studio v18.10 
* 
* How to use:
* ctrl + F, 
* click V on the left side of textbox
* copy a field's name from list below > paste in Search
* write your field's name > Replace in Search
* click Replace All
* repeat for all fields
*
* Fields to replace:
* MyDatabase - set to your database name
* MyTable - set to your table name
* Column1 - set to your table's column name
* Column2 - set to your table's column name
*/

USE [MyDatabase]
GO
UPDATE [dbo].[MyTable] SET
    [Column1] = TRIM([Column1])
    ,[Column2] = TRIM([Column2])
GO

TrimLong.sql - I wrote this first. It works like above version.

/* Summary:
* Trim the data of selected columns in a selected table
*
* Works for: SQL Server Management Studio v18.10 
* 
* How to use:
* ctrl + F, 
* click V on the left side of textbox
* copy a field's name from list below > paste in Search
* write your field's name > Replace in Search
* click Replace All
* repeat for all fields
*
* Fields to replace:
* MyDatabase - set to your database name
* MyTable - set to your table name
* MyColumnId - set to your table's column ID name
* Column1 - set to your table's column name
* Column2 - set to your table's column name
*/

USE [MyDatabase]
GO

--Number of rows in the table
DECLARE @RowCnt INT;
SET @RowCnt = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM [dbo].[MyTable])

--Row ID for a loop
DECLARE @RowId INT;
SET @RowId = 1

--Print number of rows to Update
PRINT 'Number of rows:' + convert(varchar(4), @RowCnt)

--Loop for each row
WHILE @RowId <= @RowCnt
BEGIN
    --Print Row ID
    PRINT 'RowId:' + convert(varchar(4), @RowId)

    --Trim a row data for selected Columns
    UPDATE [dbo].[MyTable] SET
        [Column1] = (SELECT TRIM([Column1]) from [dbo].[MyTable] WHERE MyColumnId = @RowId)
        ,[Column2] = (SELECT TRIM([Column2]) from [dbo].[MyTable] WHERE MyColumnId = @RowId)
        WHERE MyColumnId = @RowId

    --Increase Row ID
    SET @RowId = @RowId + 1
END
GO

Example of use

When you were cleaver enough to make char(15) fields but then it turned out that you were reading a value with a whitespace tail, so you will change it to nvarchar(15).

Upvotes: 0

toly P

Reputation: 62

None of these will work if your datatype is Varchar. Make sure to change your datatype to Nvarchar.

Upvotes: 0

Thilina Sandunsiri

Reputation: 590

SQL Server does not support for Trim() function.

But you can use LTRIM() to remove leading spaces and RTRIM() to remove trailing spaces.

can use it as LTRIM(RTRIM(ColumnName)) to remove both.

update tablename
set ColumnName= LTRIM(RTRIM(ColumnName))

Update : 2022

I had answered this question 7 years ago(in 2015). At that time there was not a direct function for trimming in SQL server.

But from SQL Server 2017, they introduced the Trim() function.

So anyone who uses SQL Server 2017 or a later version, can easily do the same thing as below.

update tablename
set ColumnName= TRIM(ColumnName)

However, if you use an older version, you will still have to use the way which I've mentioned 7 years ago.

Upvotes: 21

Arulmouzhi

Reputation: 2254

If we also want to handle white spaces and unwanted tabs-

Check and Try the below script (Unit Tested)-

--Declaring
DECLARE @Tbl TABLE(col_1 VARCHAR(100));

--Test Samples
INSERT INTO @Tbl (col_1)
VALUES
('  EY     y            
Salem')
, ('  EY     P    ort       Chennai   ')
, ('  EY     Old           Park   ')
, ('  EY   ')
, ('  EY   ')
,(''),(null),('d                           
    f');

SELECT col_1 AS INPUT,
    LTRIM(RTRIM(
    REPLACE(
    REPLACE(
    REPLACE(
    REPLACE(
    REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(col_1,CHAR(10),' ')
        ,CHAR(11),' ')
        ,CHAR(12),' ')
        ,CHAR(13),' ')
        ,CHAR(14),' ')
        ,CHAR(160),' ')
        ,CHAR(13)+CHAR(10),' ')
    ,CHAR(9),' ')
    ,' ',CHAR(17)+CHAR(18))
    ,CHAR(18)+CHAR(17),'')
    ,CHAR(17)+CHAR(18),' ')
    )) AS [OUTPUT]
FROM @Tbl;

Upvotes: 1

Pieter

Reputation: 1

To remove Enter:

Update [table_name] set
[column_name]=Replace(REPLACE([column_name],CHAR(13),''),CHAR(10),'')

To remove Tab:

Update [table_name] set
[column_name]=REPLACE([column_name],CHAR(9),'')

Upvotes: 0

shevin

Reputation: 11

SELECT TRIM(ColumnName) FROM dual;

Upvotes: 0

Salim Lyoussi

Reputation: 266

I had the same problem after extracting data from excel file using ETL and finaly i found solution there :

https://www.codeproject.com/Tips/330787/LTRIM-RTRIM-doesn-t-always-work

hope it helps ;)

Upvotes: 2

Sukanta Saha

Reputation: 31

If you are using SQL Server (starting with vNext) or Azure SQL Database then you can use the below query.

SELECT TRIM(ColumnName) from TableName;

For other SQL SERVER Database you can use the below query.

SELECT LTRIM(RTRIM(ColumnName)) from TableName

LTRIM - Removes spaces from the left

example: select LTRIM(' test ') as trim = 'test '

RTRIM - Removes spaces from the right

example: select RTRIM(' test ') as trim = ' test'

Upvotes: 3

pritam

Reputation: 11

Example:

SELECT TRIM('   Sample   ');

Result: 'Sample'

UPDATE TableName SET ColumnName = TRIM(ColumnName)

Upvotes: 0

Daniel Urdaneta

Reputation: 37

Well, it depends on which version of SQL Server you are using.

In SQL Server 2008 r2, 2012 And 2014 you can simply use TRIM(CompanyName)

SQL Server TRIM Function

In other versions you have to use set CompanyName = LTRIM(RTRIM(CompanyName))

Upvotes: 0

Hiram

Reputation: 2679

Well here is a nice script to TRIM all varchar columns on a table 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

Upvotes: 16

Simon

Reputation: 1605

Use the TRIM SQL function.

If you are using SQL Server try :

SELECT LTRIM(RTRIM(YourColumn)) FROM YourTable

Upvotes: 3

Christoffer Lette

Reputation: 14846

update MyTable set CompanyName = rtrim(CompanyName)

Upvotes: 7

Robin Day

Reputation: 102578

To just trim trailing spaces you should use

UPDATE
    TableName
SET
    ColumnName = RTRIM(ColumnName)

However, if you want to trim all leading and trailing spaces then use this

UPDATE
    TableName
SET
    ColumnName = LTRIM(RTRIM(ColumnName))

Upvotes: 41

Remove Trailing Spaces and Update in Columns in SQL Server

Answers (15)

Example of use

Related Questions