The article will explore and guide you how to use the SUBSTRING function in SQL Server to extract a substring from a specified string.
Description of SUBSTRING Function
The SUBSTRING function in SQL Server allows you to extract a substring of the specified length starting from a position in the input string.
Syntax
To use the SUBSTRING function in SQL Server, we use the following syntax:
SUBSTRING (string, start, length)
Parameters:
- string: can be a string, variable or column you want to extract.
- start: is an integer that specifies the location where the substring begins to be returned. Note that the first character in the string is 1, not 0.
- length: a positive integer that specifies the number of characters of the substring returned from the string.
Note:
- If the length parameter has a negative value, SUBSTRING will have an error
- If start + length> the length of the string, the substring will start from start and include the remaining characters of the string.
- See also LEFT and RIGHT functions to extract a substring from a specified string.
- The SUBSTRING function can be used in later versions of SQL Server: SQL Server 2017, SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008, and SQL Server 2005.
For example
Take a look and explore some examples of SUBSTRING functions in SQL Server.
SELECT SUBSTRING ('Heavendownload.com', 1, 6);
Result: ‘Heaven’
SELECT SUBSTRING ('Heavendownload.com', 6, 8);
Result: ‘download’
SELECT SUBSTRING ('Heavendownload.com', 5, 12);
Result: ‘download.com’
