SQL Server TRIM Function

By: Daniel Calbimonte

The TRIM function is used to remove trailing and leading spaces (char(32)) from a string of characters. This was introduced with SQL Server 2017.

Syntax

TRIM(expression)

Parameters

• expression - the string to remove leading and trailing spaces.

Simple TRIM Example

The following example will TRIM the leading and trailing spaces.

SELECT TRIM('    What a   wonderful   world   ') as msg

TRIM Example Using Table Column

The following example shows how to remove trailing and leading spaces from a table column.

SELECT TRIM(AddressLine1) as addressline
FROM [Person].[Address]

Example with TRIM and CONCAT Functions

The following example shows how to use TRIM with CONCAT to trim leading and trailing spaces and then concatenate the values.

DECLARE @string1 varchar(30) = '  this is the first message   '

DECLARE @string2 varchar(30) = '  this is the second message  '

SELECT CONCAT(TRIM(@string1), ' ', TRIM(@string2)) as example

Related Articles

• SQL ASCII
• SQL CHAR
• SQL CONCAT
• SQL LTRIM
• SQL RTRIM