SPACE (Transact-SQL)

Article
02/28/2023
2 minutes to read

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW)

Returns a string of repeated spaces.

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

SPACE ( integer_expression )

Note

To view Transact-SQL syntax for SQL Server 2014 and earlier, see Previous versions documentation.

Arguments

integer_expression
Is a positive integer that indicates the number of spaces. If integer_expression is negative, a null string is returned.

For more information, see Expressions (Transact-SQL)

Return Types

varchar

Remarks

To include spaces in Unicode data, or to return more than 8000 character spaces, use REPLICATE instead of SPACE.

Examples

The following example trims the last names and concatenates a comma, two spaces, and the first names of people listed in the Person table in AdventureWorks2012.

USE AdventureWorks2012;  
GO  
SELECT RTRIM(LastName) + ',' + SPACE(2) +  LTRIM(FirstName)  
FROM Person.Person  
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;  
GO

Examples: Azure Synapse Analytics and Analytics Platform System (PDW)

The following example trims the last names and concatenates a comma, two spaces, and the first names of people listed in the DimCustomer table in AdventureWorksPDW2012.

-- Uses AdventureWorks  
  
SELECT RTRIM(LastName) + ',' + SPACE(2) +  LTRIM(FirstName)  
FROM dbo.DimCustomer  
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;  
GO