Inserting TAB into string

Question

Inserting TAB into string

RD-201664

Ten Centuries

Points: 1334
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October 6, 2009 at 10:40 am

#211690

Hi all,
This is for SQL 2000. I am trying to add a tab character to a string using char(9) but all I get is a single space.
Example:
select 'there should be a tab between here' + char(9) + 'and here'
Ideas?
Thanks.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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Garadin One Orange Chip Points: 29613 More actions · Answer 1

What are you using to verify that you only get a space? You're not going to see it in QA or SSMS, as they don't show things like carriage returns/tabs/etc. If you select that cell into a front end that does display those things, it may work fine.

Seth Phelabaum

Consistency is only a virtue if you're not a screwup. 😉

Links: How to Post Sample Data[/url] :: Running Totals[/url] :: Tally Table[/url] :: Cross Tabs/Pivots[/url] :: String Concatenation[/url]

RD-201664 Ten Centuries Points: 1334 More actions · Answer 2

Ahh, I was only looking in QA then copy/paste to Notepad. The finished output does have the tab.

Thanks.

arun.sas SSChampion Points: 11831 More actions · Answer 3

RD-201664 (10/6/2009)
select 'there should be a tab between here' + char(9) + 'and here'
Ideas?

declare @result varchar(100)

set @result = 'TEST START'+char(9)+'EXEC'+char(9)+'TEST END'

select @result

RESULT

TEST STARTEXECTEST END

set @result = replace(@result,char(9),' -TAB HERE- ')

select @result

RESULT

TEST START -TAB HERE- EXEC -TAB HERE- TEST END

emich11-reseau SSC Journeyman Points: 95 More actions · Answer 4

[font="Arial"]I add the same problem with SQL Server :

"something"+char(9)+"something"

returns something something

"something"+char(9) + char(9)+char(9)+char(9)+char(9)+char(9)+"something"

returns something something

finally, I "cheated" with :

"something"+char(9)+char(160)+char(9)+char(160)+char(9)+char(160)+char(9)+char(160)"something"

returns something [8 spaces here] something (each char9 or char16 is replaced by a space)

so visually I got what I wanted, even if I admit it is not very elegant...[/font]

drewmie Mr or Mrs. 500 Points: 504 More actions · Answer 5

I solved this by just creating a blank tab column, then copying both columns. It pastes perfectly with a tab.

SELECT '' AS Tab, 'Text following tab.' AS OtherText

I use this method when I want to generate well-tabbed SQL code.