STUFF (Transact-SQL)
Deletes a specified length of characters and inserts another set of characters at a specified starting point.
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Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions
Syntax
STUFF ( character_expression , start , length ,character_expression )
Arguments
- character_expression
Is an expression of character data. character_expression can be a constant, variable, or column of either character or binary data.
- start
Is an integer value that specifies the location to start deletion and insertion. If start or length is negative, a null string is returned. If start is longer than the first character_expression, a null string is returned. start can be of type bigint.
- length
Is an integer that specifies the number of characters to delete. If length is longer than the first character_expression, deletion occurs up to the last character in the last character_expression. length can be of type bigint.
Return Types
Returns character data if character_expression is one of the supported character data types. Returns binary data if character_expression is one of the supported binary data types.
Remarks
An error is raised if the resulting value is larger than the maximum supported by the return type.
Examples
The following example returns a character string created by deleting three characters from the first string, abcdef, starting at position 2, at b, and inserting the second string at the deletion point.
SELECT STUFF('abcdef', 2, 3, 'ijklmn')
GO
Here is the result set.
---------
aijklmnef
(1 row(s) affected)
See Also
Reference
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
String Functions (Transact-SQL)