TRIM

TRIM ( [ [ LEADING | TRAILING | BOTH ] [ characters ] FROM ] input_string )

Description

Removes leading and/or trailing characters from a string.

The TRIM function allows you to specify whether to remove characters from the start (LEADING), the end (TRAILING), or both sides (BOTH) of the input string. You can also specify which characters to remove. If no characters are specified, TRIM removes spaces.

Syntax

TRIM ( [ LEADING [ characters ] FROM ] input_string )
TRIM ( [ TRAILING [ characters ] FROM ] input_string )
TRIM ( [ BOTH [ characters ] FROM ] input_string )
TRIM ( input_string )

Parameters

Return Type

Returns the character string after removing specified characters from the specified positions.

Examples

Example 1: Removing Leading and Trailing Spaces

This example shows how to remove leading and trailing spaces from a string.

SELECT TRIM('   Hello World   ');

Example 2: Removing Specific Leading Characters

This example removes the characters '-' and ' ' from the beginning of the string.

SELECT TRIM(LEADING '- ' FROM '--   SQL Server is great!');

Example 3: Removing Specific Trailing Characters

This example removes the character '.' from the end of the string.

SELECT TRIM(TRAILING '.' FROM 'This is a sentence....');

Example 4: Removing Specific Characters from Both Sides

This example removes '*' and '+' characters from both the leading and trailing parts of the string.

SELECT TRIM(BOTH '*+' FROM '**+++Awesome+++**');

Example 5: Using TRIM with a Table Column

Assume you have a table named Products with a column ProductName that might have extra spaces.

-- Sample table structure:
-- CREATE TABLE Products (
--     ProductID INT PRIMARY KEY,
--     ProductName VARCHAR(100)
-- );
-- INSERT INTO Products (ProductID, ProductName) VALUES
-- (1, '  Laptop '),
-- (2, 'Keyboard  '),
-- (3, '   Mouse');

SELECT ProductName, TRIM(ProductName) AS CleanedProductName
FROM Products;