RE: Unable to compare text datatype fields to extract salient data

SSC Guru

Points: 186127

September 24, 2012 at 8:33 am

High Plains Grifter (9/24/2012)
Thanks Chris and GSquared for replies and speed!
I see how those work; my concern is that using things like REPLACE(),LEN(),LEFT() on a text field of more than 8000 characters will truncate the length down to 8000 characters, meaning that I could lose data off the end of my fieldvalue; the example below will return 8000:
DECLARE @String VARCHAR(MAX) = REPLICATE('a',10000)
SELECT LEN(@String)
I am using SQL Server 2008 R2, so the VARCHAR(MAX) should be able to hold something like 2^31 characters
Edit:
Wow - you post faster than I do! I hear you about the need for sample data - taken on board. Unfortunately, we are using a database built by an external software company and have no real control over the format.

DECLARE @String VARCHAR(MAX) = REPLICATE(CAST('a' AS VARCHAR(MAX)),10000)

SELECT LEN(@String)

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