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xp_sscanf (Transact-SQL)

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Applies to: SQL Server

Reads data from the string into the argument locations specified by each format argument.

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

syntaxsql 
xp_sscanf { 'string' OUTPUT , 'format' } [ , 'argument' [ , ...n ] ]

Arguments

'string' OUTPUT

The character string to read the argument values from.

When OUTPUTis specified, string puts the value of argument in the output parameter.

'format'

A formatted character string, similar to the values supported by the C-language sscanf function. Currently, only the %s format argument is supported.

'argument'

A varchar variable set to the value of the corresponding format argument.

n

A placeholder that indicates that a maximum of 50 arguments can be specified.

Return code values

0 (success) or 1 (failure).

Result set

xp_sscanf returns the following message:

Output 
Command(s) completed successfully.

Permissions

Requires membership in the public role.

Examples

The following example uses xp_sscanf to extract two values from a source string based on their positions in the format of the source string.

SQL 
DECLARE @filename VARCHAR(20),
    @message VARCHAR(20);

EXEC xp_sscanf 'sync -b -fproducts10.tmp -rrandom',
    'sync -b -f%s -r%s',
    @filename OUTPUT,
    @message OUTPUT;

SELECT @filename, @message;

Here's the result set.

Output 
(No column name) (No column name)
---------------- --------------------
products10.tmp   random

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