Home Forums Article Discussions Article Discussions by Author Discuss Content Posted by Jeff Moden Hidden Formatting Troubles with STR() (SQL Spackle) RE: Hidden Formatting Troubles with STR() (SQL Spackle)

  • December 15, 2010 at 8:58 am

    #1262940

    nigel. (12/15/2010)

    Nice little eye opener Jeff, thanks.

    I particularly like :

    ...formatting data in SQL Server is your basic "Bozo-no-no"

    Can I quote that the next time I see another question like:

    "How do I get TSQL to format my datetime column to show just the date/time/whatever ...?" 🙂

    Absolutely but don't say "never" in the process because "It Depends". It's usually a horrible idea to burn clock cycles formatting in SQL Server for way too many reasons to list here (including local display settings in a global environment) but there IS the occasional justifiable need... sometimes there is no GUI to do the formatting for you especially if you're writing directly to a file.

    --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.

    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)