330

What is the best way to remove all spaces from a string in SQL Server 2008?

LTRIM(RTRIM(' a b ')) would remove all spaces at the right and left of the string, but I also need to remove the space in the middle.

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2
  • 7
    By "all white spaces" do you mean only regular spaces? Or, do you mean tabs, CR, LF, and other characters that may display as white space? Commented May 3, 2012 at 13:15
  • 5
    @GordonLinoff : I meant regular spaces Commented May 3, 2012 at 13:46

25 Answers 25

Reset to default
553

Simply replace it;

SELECT REPLACE(fld_or_variable, ' ', '')

Edit: Just to clarify; its a global replace, there is no need to trim() or worry about multiple spaces for either char or varchar:

create table #t (
    c char(8),
    v varchar(8))

insert #t (c, v) values 
    ('a a'    , 'a a'    ),
    ('a a  '  , 'a a  '  ),
    ('  a a'  , '  a a'  ),
    ('  a a  ', '  a a  ')

select
    '"' + c + '"' [IN], '"' + replace(c, ' ', '') + '"' [OUT]
from #t  
union all select
    '"' + v + '"', '"' + replace(v, ' ', '') + '"'
from #t

Result

IN             OUT
===================
"a a     "     "aa"
"a a     "     "aa"
"  a a   "     "aa"
"  a a   "     "aa"
"a a"          "aa"
"a a  "        "aa"
"  a a"        "aa"
"  a a  "      "aa"
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5 Comments

What if there are multiple white spaces between words? REPLACE only removes one at a time. A user defined function should be written which removes multiple spaces.
This doesn't seem to replace trailing white spaces
It should replace all whitespace everywhere
It WILL remove all white spaces except for trailing. To remove trailing add TRIM(REPLACE(fld_or_variable, ' ', '')). The reason why it remove even multiple spaces is because... well it change every space characters to nothing wether the spaces are next to each other or not.
Replace removes all spaces even trailing one. If there are still apprently spaces in the data after this is done, it is likely they are not spaces but unprintable characters like tabs or carraige returns.
53

I would use a REPLACE

select REPLACE (' Hello , How Are You ?', ' ', '' )

REPLACE

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39

If it is an update on a table all you have to do is run this update multiple times until it is affecting 0 rows.

update tableName
set colName = REPLACE(LTRIM(RTRIM(colName)), '  ', ' ')
where colName like '%  %'
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Comments

26

100% working

UPDATE table_name SET  "column_name"=replace("column_name", ' ', ''); //Remove white space

UPDATE table_name SET  "column_name"=replace("column_name", '\n', ''); //Remove newline

UPDATE table_name SET  "column_name"=replace("column_name", '\t', ''); //Remove all tab

You can use "column_name" or column_name

Thanks

Subroto

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2 Comments

I had to use select replace(replace(replace(varcharColumn,char(13),''),char(10),''),' ','') to remove all newlines and spaces from a varchar column. If I used '\n' and '\r' instead of char(13) and char(10) it didn't work.
to execute this, it's needed to run "SET SQL_SAFE_UPDATES = 0;"
21

REPLACE() function:

REPLACE(field, ' ', '')
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14

Reference taken from this blog:

First, Create sample table and data:

CREATE TABLE tbl_RemoveExtraSpaces
(
     Rno INT
     ,Name VARCHAR(100)
)
GO

INSERT INTO tbl_RemoveExtraSpaces VALUES (1,'I    am     Anvesh   Patel')
INSERT INTO tbl_RemoveExtraSpaces VALUES (2,'Database   Research and     Development  ')
INSERT INTO tbl_RemoveExtraSpaces VALUES (3,'Database    Administrator     ')
INSERT INTO tbl_RemoveExtraSpaces VALUES (4,'Learning    BIGDATA    and       NOSQL ')
GO

Script to SELECT string without Extra Spaces:

SELECT
     [Rno]
    ,[Name] AS StringWithSpace
    ,LTRIM(RTRIM(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE([Name],CHAR(32),'()'),')(',''),'()',CHAR(32)))) AS StringWithoutSpace
FROM tbl_RemoveExtraSpaces

Result:

Rno         StringWithSpace                                 StringWithoutSpace
----------- -----------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------------
1           I    am     Anvesh   Patel                      I am Anvesh Patel
2           Database   Research and     Development         Database Research and Development
3           Database    Administrator                       Database Administrator
4           Learning    BIGDATA    and       NOSQL          Learning BIGDATA and NOSQL
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3 Comments

Do you realize the OP wanted to remove ALL spaces instead of replacing multiple spaces with a single one?
This should have been downvoted due to the answer is not as required by the OP, but instead it got 4 upvotes. Welcome to Stack Overflow.
@Mr.J and now it has 9. Crazy world.
12

t-sql replace http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186862.aspx

replace(val, ' ', '')

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12

This does the trick of removing the spaces on the strings:

UPDATE
    tablename
SET
    columnname = replace(columnname, ' ', '');
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10

If there are multiple white spaces in a string, then replace may not work correctly. For that, the following function should be used.

CREATE FUNCTION RemoveAllSpaces
(
    @InputStr varchar(8000)
)
RETURNS varchar(8000)
AS
BEGIN
declare @ResultStr varchar(8000)
set @ResultStr = @InputStr
while charindex(' ', @ResultStr) > 0
    set @ResultStr = replace(@InputStr, ' ', '')

return @ResultStr
END

Example:

select dbo.RemoveAllSpaces('aa  aaa       aa aa                 a')

Output:

aaaaaaaaaa
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4 Comments

"@InputStr" should be "@ResultStr" in the body of the while loop.
@jjoelson would you mind to create this function and test it before pointing out mistakes?
Sorry, I was working under your above assumption that REPLACE only removes one at a time, in which case this function would cause an infinite loop for inputs with multiple spaces. In reality, the while loop isn't even necessary at all.
Farhan, if REPLACE worked the way you think it does then @jjoelson's first comment is correct. Otherwise you'll have an infinite loop because InputStr never changes so ResultStr will always be the first REPLACE result. The reason your code works is because REPLACE is needed only 1 time. It's never called a second time no matter what string you throw at it. Add a counter and print it out with each iteration. It'll always be 1. REPLACE(InputStr, ' ', '') will remove every space with one call.
8 
replace(replace(column_Name,CHAR(13),''),CHAR(10),'')
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6

Try to use like this, if normal spaces are not removed by LTRM or RTRM

LTRIM(RTRIM(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(Column_data, CHAR(9), ''), CHAR(10), ''), CHAR(13), '')))
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1 Comment

Had the same issue i.e. a whitespace at the start of the email string. I can confirm that this worked for me - thank you very much :)
3

Just in case you need to TRIM spaces in all columns, you could use this script to do it dynamically:

--Just change table name
declare @MyTable varchar(100)
set @MyTable = 'MyTable'

--temp table to get column names and a row id
select column_name, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY column_name) as id into #tempcols from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS 
WHERE   DATA_TYPE IN ('varchar', 'nvarchar') and TABLE_NAME = @MyTable

declare @tri int
select @tri = count(*) from #tempcols
declare @i int
select @i = 0
declare @trimmer nvarchar(max)
declare @comma varchar(1)
set @comma = ', '

--Build Update query
select @trimmer = 'UPDATE [dbo].[' + @MyTable + '] SET '

WHILE @i <= @tri 
BEGIN

    IF (@i = @tri)
        BEGIN
        set @comma = ''
        END
    SELECT  @trimmer = @trimmer + CHAR(10)+ '[' + COLUMN_NAME + '] = LTRIM(RTRIM([' + COLUMN_NAME + ']))'+@comma
    FROM    #tempcols
    where id = @i

    select @i = @i+1
END

--execute the entire query
EXEC sp_executesql @trimmer

drop table #tempcols
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Comments

3

To make all of the answers above complete, there are additional posts on StackOverflow on how to deal with ALL whitespace characters (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_character for a full list of these characters):

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3

this is useful for me:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.TRIM(@String VARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
BEGIN
    RETURN LTRIM(RTRIM(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(@String,CHAR(10),'[]'),CHAR(13),'[]'),char(9),'[]'),CHAR(32),'[]'),'][',''),'[]',CHAR(32))));
END
GO

.

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2

if you want to remove spaces,-, and another text from string then use following :

suppose you have a mobile number in your Table like '718-378-4957' or ' 7183784957' and you want replace and get the mobile number then use following Text.

select replace(replace(replace(replace(MobileNo,'-',''),'(',''),')',''),' ','') from EmployeeContactNumber

Result :-- 7183784957

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Comments

2

Just a tip, in case you are having trouble with the replace function, you might have the datatype set to nchar (in which case it is a fixed length and it will not work).

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1

I had this issue today and replace / trim did the trick..see below. 

update table_foo 
set column_bar  = REPLACE(LTRIM(RTRIM(column_bar)), '  ', '')

before and after : 

old-bad:  column_bar    |   New-fixed:   column_bar
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz'   
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz' 
       '  xyz  '        |                'xyz'
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1

Check and Try the below script (Unit Tested)-

--Declaring
DECLARE @Tbl TABLE(col_1 VARCHAR(100));

--Test Samples
INSERT INTO @Tbl (col_1)
VALUES
('  EY     y            
Salem')
, ('  EY     P    ort       Chennai   ')
, ('  EY     Old           Park   ')
, ('  EY   ')
, ('  EY   ')
,(''),(null),('d                           
    f');

SELECT col_1 AS INPUT,
    LTRIM(RTRIM(
    REPLACE(
    REPLACE(
    REPLACE(
    REPLACE(
    REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(
        REPLACE(col_1,CHAR(10),' ')
        ,CHAR(11),' ')
        ,CHAR(12),' ')
        ,CHAR(13),' ')
        ,CHAR(14),' ')
        ,CHAR(160),' ')
        ,CHAR(13)+CHAR(10),' ')
    ,CHAR(9),' ')
    ,' ',CHAR(17)+CHAR(18))
    ,CHAR(18)+CHAR(17),'')
    ,CHAR(17)+CHAR(18),' ')
    )) AS [OUTPUT]
FROM @Tbl;
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1

I know the original question was about simply replacing spaces, but should you need to replace ALL whitespace, you can use the TRANSLATE function (since Sql Server 2019) to convert a given list of characters to something easier to replace. Then wrap it with the REPLACE function.

This saves repeated calls:

DECLARE @Whitespace CHAR(4) = CHAR(0) + CHAR(9) + CHAR(13) + CHAR(10);
SELECT REPLACE(
    TRANSLATE(' TEST    ', @Whitespace, '    '),
    ' ', '');
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0

To remove the spaces in a string left and right. To remove space in middle use Replace.

You can use RTRIM() to remove spaces from the right and LTRIM() to remove spaces from the left hence left and right spaces removed as follows:

SELECT * FROM table WHERE LTRIM(RTRIM(username)) = LTRIM(RTRIM("Bob alias baby"))
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0

Syntax for replacing a specific characters:

REPLACE ( string_expression , string_pattern , string_replacement )

For example in the string "HelloReplaceThingsGoing" Replace word is replaced by How

SELECT REPLACE('HelloReplaceThingsGoing','Replace','How');
GO
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0

A functional version (udf) that removes spaces, cr, lf, tabs or configurable.

select Common.ufn_RemoveWhitespace(' 234   asdf   wefwef 3  x   ', default) as S

Result: '234asdfwefwef3x'

alter function Common.RemoveWhitespace
(
    @pString nvarchar(max),
    @pWhitespaceCharsOpt nvarchar(max) = null -- default: tab, lf, cr, space 
)  
returns nvarchar(max) as
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Purpose:   Compress whitespace

    Example:  select Common.ufn_RemoveWhitespace(' 234   asdf   wefwef 3  x   ', default) as s 
              -- Result: 234asdfwefwef3x

    Modified    By          Description
    ----------  ----------- --------------------------------------------------------------------
    2018.07.24  crokusek    Initial Version 
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/ 
begin    
    declare 
        @maxLen bigint = 1073741823, -- (2^31 - 1) / 2 (https://stackoverflow.com/a/4270085/538763)
        @whitespaceChars nvarchar(30) = coalesce(
            @pWhitespaceCharsOpt, 
            char(9) + char(10) + char(13) + char(32));  -- tab, lf, cr, space

    declare
        @whitespacePattern nvarchar(30) = '%[' + @whitespaceChars + ']%',
        @nonWhitespacePattern nvarchar(30) = '%[^' + @whitespaceChars + ']%',
        @previousString nvarchar(max) = '';

    while (@pString != @previousString)
    begin
        set @previousString = @pString;

        declare
            @whiteIndex int = patindex(@whitespacePattern, @pString);

        if (@whiteIndex > 0)
        begin                   
            declare 
                @whitespaceLength int = nullif(patindex(@nonWhitespacePattern, substring(@pString, @whiteIndex, @maxLen)), 0) - 1;                

            set @pString = 
                substring(@pString, 1, @whiteIndex - 1) + 
                iif(@whiteSpaceLength > 0, substring(@pString, @whiteIndex + @whiteSpaceLength, @maxLen), '');
        end        
    end        
    return @pString;
end
go
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Comments

0

For some reason, the replace works only with one string each time. I had a string like this "Test           MSP" and I want to leave only one space.

I used the approach that @Farhan did, but with some modifications:

CREATE FUNCTION ReplaceAll
(
    @OriginalString varchar(8000),
    @StringToRemove varchar(20),
    @StringToPutInPlace varchar(20)
)
RETURNS varchar(8000)
AS
BEGIN
declare @ResultStr varchar(8000)
set @ResultStr = @OriginalString
while charindex(@StringToRemove, @ResultStr) > 0
    set @ResultStr = replace(@ResultStr, @StringToRemove, @StringToPutInPlace)

return @ResultStr
END

Then I run my update like this

UPDATE tbTest SET Description = dbo.ReplaceAll(Description, '  ', ' ') WHERE ID = 14225

Then I got this result: Test MSP

Posting here if in case someone needs it as I did.

Running on: Microsoft SQL Server 2016 (SP2)

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0

I share a solution that -in my opinion- is very fast, but somewhat tedious to install. It works fine for me on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (SP3):

  1. Install the Sql Regex assembly on the server where the database is installed. The installation steps are in the following link: https://github.com/DevNambi/sql-server-regex#installation

  2. Create in the database the function dbo.TRIM, which is based on The RegexReplace() scalar function ( https://github.com/DevNambi/sql-server-regex#replace ):

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[TRIM](@text NVARCHAR(MAX))
  RETURNS NVARCHAR(MAX) --WITH SCHEMABINDING 
BEGIN

-- This function removes:
-- 1. invisible characters,
-- 2. repeated blank spaces and
-- 3. the spaces at the beginning and at the end of the text.

    RETURN (CASE
        WHEN @text is NULL 
            THEN NULL
        ELSE

            dbo.RegexReplace((dbo.RegexReplace(dbo.RegexReplace(@text, N'['+Nchar(0)+N'-'+Nchar(32)+Nchar(8192)+N'-'+Nchar(8202)+Nchar(160)+Nchar(5760)+Nchar(6158)+Nchar(8232)+Nchar(8233)+Nchar(8239)+Nchar(8287)+Nchar(65440)+Nchar(12288) +N']+', N'[}'), N'[\[\}]+', ' ')), N'^\s+|\s+$','')  

    END);
END
GO

....................

How to use:

declare @txt NVARCHAR(MAX) = N' Hello,'+Nchar(12288)+N'          my      '+NCHAR(160)+N'name'+Nchar(0)+N'     is John'+NCHAR(11)+N'            Doe';

select dbo.TRIM(@txt) as Result -- Result: "Hello, my name is John Doe"

....................

Update:

To completely remove all spaces, you can create the following function:

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[TRIM_SPACES](@text NVARCHAR(MAX))
  RETURNS NVARCHAR(MAX) --WITH SCHEMABINDING 
BEGIN
    RETURN (CASE WHEN @text is NULL THEN NULL ELSE
            dbo.RegexReplace(@text, N'['+Nchar(0)+N'-'+Nchar(32)+Nchar(8192)+N'-'+Nchar(8202)+Nchar(160)+Nchar(5760)+Nchar(6158)+Nchar(8232)+Nchar(8233)+Nchar(8239)+Nchar(8287)+Nchar(65440)+Nchar(12288) +N']+', N'')
    END)
END
GO

....................

How to use:

declare @txt NVARCHAR(MAX) = N' Hello,'+Nchar(12288)+N'          my      '+NCHAR(160)+N'name'+Nchar(0)+N'     is John'+NCHAR(11)+N'            Doe';

select dbo.TRIM_SPACES(@txt) as Result -- Result: "Hello,mynameisJohnDoe"
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Comments

-2

It seems that everybody keeps referring to a single REPLACE function. Or even many calls of a REPLACE function. But when you have dynamic output with an unknown number of spaces, it wont work. Anybody that deals with this issue on a regular basis knows that REPLACE will only remove a single space, NOT ALL, as it should. And LTRIM and RTRIM seem to have the same issue. Leave it to Microsoft.

Here's a sample output that uses a WHILE loop to remove ALL CHAR(32) values (space).

DECLARE @INPUT_VAL  VARCHAR(8000)
DECLARE @OUTPUT_VAL VARCHAR(8000)

SET @INPUT_VAL = '      C               A                         '
SET @OUTPUT_VAL = @INPUT_VAL

WHILE CHARINDEX(CHAR(32), @OUTPUT_VAL) > 0 
BEGIN
    SET @OUTPUT_VAL = REPLACE(@INPUT_VAL, CHAR(32), '')
END

PRINT 'START:' + @INPUT_VAL + ':END'
PRINT 'START:' + @OUTPUT_VAL + ':END'

Here's the output of the above code:

START:      C               A                         :END
START:CA:END

Now to take it a step further and utilize it in an UPDATE or SELECT statement, change it to a udf.

CREATE FUNCTION udf_RemoveSpaces (@INPUT_VAL VARCHAR(8000))
RETURNS VARCHAR(8000)
AS 
BEGIN
    DECLARE @OUTPUT_VAL VARCHAR(8000)
    SET @OUTPUT_VAL = @INPUT_VAL

    -- ITERATE OVER STRING TO LOOK FOR THE ASCII VALUE OF SPACE (CHAR(32)) REPLACE IT WITH BLANK, NOT NULL
    WHILE CHARINDEX(CHAR(32), @OUTPUT_VAL) > 0 
    BEGIN
        SET @OUTPUT_VAL = REPLACE(@INPUT_VAL, CHAR(32), '')
    END

    RETURN @OUTPUT_VAL
END

Then utilize the function in a SELECT or INSERT statement:

UPDATE A
SET STATUS_REASON_CODE = WHATEVER.dbo.udf_RemoveSpaces(STATUS_REASON_CODE)
FROM WHATEVER..ACCT_INFO A
WHERE A.SOMEVALUE = @SOMEVALUE

INSERT INTO SOMETABLE (STATUS_REASON_CODE)
    SELECT WHATEVER.dbo.udf_RemoveSpaces(STATUS_REASON_CODE)
    FROM WHATEVER..ACCT_INFO A
    WHERE A.SOMEVALUE = @SOMEVALUE
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1 Comment

"REPLACE will only remove a single space." ...really? This simple demo suggests not: dbfiddle.uk/… . Have you got an example of where that wouldn't work?

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