CHAR (Transact-SQL)
Converts an int ASCII code to a character.
Syntax
CHAR (integer_expression )
Arguments
- integer_expression
Is an integer from 0 through 255. NULL is returned if the integer expression is not in this range.
Return Types
char(1)
Remarks
CHAR can be used to insert control characters into character strings. The following table shows some frequently used control characters.
Control character |
Value |
---|---|
Tab |
char(9) |
Line feed |
char(10) |
Carriage return |
char(13) |
Examples
A. Using ASCII and CHAR to print ASCII values from a string
The following example prints the ASCII value and character for each character in the string New Moon.
SET TEXTSIZE 0
-- Create variables for the character string and for the current
-- position in the string.
DECLARE @position int, @string char(8)
-- Initialize the current position and the string variables.
SET @position = 1
SET @string = 'New Moon'
WHILE @position <= DATALENGTH(@string)
BEGIN
SELECT ASCII(SUBSTRING(@string, @position, 1)),
CHAR(ASCII(SUBSTRING(@string, @position, 1)))
SET @position = @position + 1
END
GO
Here is the result set.
----------- -
78 N
----------- -
101 e
----------- -
119 w
----------- -
32
----------- -
77 M
----------- -
111 o
----------- -
111 o
----------- -
110 n
----------- -
B. Using CHAR to insert a control character
The following example uses CHAR(13) to print name, e-mail address, and telephone number on separate lines when the results are returned in text.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
SELECT FirstName + ' ' + LastName, + CHAR(13) + EmailAddress + CHAR(13)
+ Phone
FROM Person.Contact
WHERE ContactID = 1;
GO
Here is the result set.
Gustavo Achong
gustavo0@adventure-works.com
398-555-0132
(1 row(s) affected)