Text and Image Functions - TEXTPTR (Transact-SQL)
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Returns the text-pointer value that corresponds to a text, ntext, or image column in varbinary format. The retrieved text pointer value can be used in READTEXT, WRITETEXT, and UPDATETEXT statements.
Important
This feature will be removed in a future version of SQL Server. Avoid using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature. Alternative functionality is not available.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
TEXTPTR ( column )
Arguments
column
Is the text, ntext, or image column that will be used.
Return Types
varbinary
Remarks
For tables with in-row text, TEXTPTR returns a handle for the text to be processed. You can obtain a valid text pointer even if the text value is null.
You cannot use the TEXTPTR function on columns of views. You can only use it on columns of tables. To use the TEXTPTR function on a column of a view, you must set the compatibility level to 80 by using ALTER DATABASE Compatibility Level. If the table does not have in-row text, and if a text, ntext, or image column has not been initialized by an UPDATETEXT statement, TEXTPTR returns a null pointer.
Use TEXTVALID to test whether a text pointer exists. You cannot use UPDATETEXT, WRITETEXT, or READTEXT without a valid text pointer.
These functions and statements are also useful when you work with text, ntext, and image data.
| Function or statement | Description |
|---|---|
| PATINDEX('%pattern%' , expression) | Returns the character position of a specified character string in text or ntext columns. |
| DATALENGTH(expression) | Returns the length of data in text, ntext, and image columns. |
| SET TEXTSIZE | Returns the limit, in bytes, of the text, ntext, or image data to be returned with a SELECT statement. |
| SUBSTRING(text_column, start, length) | Returns a varchar string specified by the specified start offset and length. The length should be less than 8 KB. |
Examples
Note
To run the following examples, you must install the pubs database.
A. Using TEXTPTR
The following example uses the TEXTPTR function to locate the image column logo associated with New Moon Books in the pub_info table of the pubs database. The text pointer is put into a local variable @ptrval.
USE pubs;
GO
DECLARE @ptrval VARBINARY(16);
SELECT @ptrval = TEXTPTR(logo)
FROM pub_info pr, publishers p
WHERE p.pub_id = pr.pub_id
AND p.pub_name = 'New Moon Books';
GO
B. Using TEXTPTR with in-row text
In SQL Server, the in-row text pointer must be used inside a transaction, as shown in the following example.
CREATE TABLE t1 (c1 INT, c2 TEXT);
EXEC sp_tableoption 't1', 'text in row', 'on';
INSERT t1 VALUES ('1', 'This is text.');
GO
BEGIN TRAN;
DECLARE @ptrval VARBINARY(16);
SELECT @ptrval = TEXTPTR(c2)
FROM t1
WHERE c1 = 1;
READTEXT t1.c2 @ptrval 0 1;
COMMIT;
C. Returning text data
The following example selects the pub_id column and the 16-byte text pointer of the pr_info column from the pub_info table.
USE pubs;
GO
SELECT pub_id, TEXTPTR(pr_info)
FROM pub_info
ORDER BY pub_id;
GO
Here's the result set.
pub_id
------ ----------------------------------
0736 0x6c0000000000feffb801000001000100
0877 0x6d0000000000feffb801000001000300
1389 0x6e0000000000feffb801000001000500
1622 0x700000000000feffb801000001000900
1756 0x710000000000feffb801000001000b00
9901 0x720000000000feffb801000001000d00
9952 0x6f0000000000feffb801000001000700
9999 0x730000000000feffb801000001000f00
(8 row(s) affected)
The following example shows how to return the first 8000 bytes of text without using TEXTPTR.
USE pubs;
GO
SET TEXTSIZE 8000;
SELECT pub_id, pr_info
FROM pub_info
ORDER BY pub_id;
GO
Here's the result set.
pub_id pr_info
------ -----------------------------------------------------------------
0736 New Moon Books (NMB) has just released another top ten publication. With the latest publication this makes NMB the hottest new publisher of the year!
0877 This is sample text data for Binnet & Hardley, publisher 0877 in the pubs database. Binnet & Hardley is located in Washington, D.C.
This is sample text data for Binnet & Hardley, publisher 0877 in the pubs database. Binnet & Hardley is located in Washi
1389 This is sample text data for Algodata Infosystems, publisher 1389 in the pubs database. Algodata Infosystems is located in Berkeley, California.
9999 This is sample text data for Lucerne Publishing, publisher 9999 in the pubs database. Lucerne publishing is located in Paris, France.
This is sample text data for Lucerne Publishing, publisher 9999 in the pubs database. Lucerne publishing is located in
(8 row(s) affected)
D. Returning specific text data
The following example locates the text column (pr_info) associated with pub_id``0736 in the pub_info table of the pubs database. It first declares the local variable @val. The text pointer (a long binary string) is then put into @val and supplied as a parameter to the READTEXT statement. This returns 10 bytes starting at the fifth byte (offset of 4).
USE pubs;
GO
DECLARE @val VARBINARY(16);
SELECT @val = TEXTPTR(pr_info)
FROM pub_info
WHERE pub_id = '0736';
READTEXT pub_info.pr_info @val 4 10;
GO
Here's the result set.
pr_info
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
is sample
(1 row(s) affected)
See Also
DATALENGTH (Transact-SQL)
PATINDEX (Transact-SQL)
READTEXT (Transact-SQL)
SET TEXTSIZE (Transact-SQL)
Text and Image Functions (Transact-SQL)
UPDATETEXT (Transact-SQL)
WRITETEXT (Transact-SQL)