Home Forums SQL Server 2012 SQL Server 2012 - T-SQL Remove non alpha chars from a column RE: Remove non alpha chars from a column

  • September 30, 2014 at 7:36 am

    #1749137

    CELKO (9/30/2014)

    I use nested REPLACE() functions. Some day we might have the ANSI/ISO Standard TRANSLATE()

    Hi Joe,

    I agree that using nested replace functions are the berries for performance especially when replacing multiple adjacent spaces with just one. Would that be practical in this case? You'd only be keeping 52 out of 256 characters (ASCII characters) and that's if it's not Unicode. I haven't actually tested it but would seem that the 254 nested replaces required would be a bit of a performance problem even for nested replaces.

    Does your alpha-only function have that many replaces or is there another trick to it?

    --Jeff Moden

    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

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