FORMATMESSAGE (SQL equivalent to String.Format)

I really love the .NET String.Format function, and you can use the SQL FORMATMESSAGE function to achieve the same thing.

Copy the code below into SQL and run it so see all the possibilities

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... and you 'll find more on the SQL (General) Menu

Supported data types:

d or i Signed integer
o Unsigned octal
s String
u Unsigned integer
x or X Unsigned hexadecimal

Here's a handy one-liner, copy into your code and edit. FORMATMESSAGE does not support NUMERIC datatypes, so we use FORMAT to convert NUMERIC to VARCHAR

PRINT FORMATMESSAGE('Test numeric: %s, test string: %s ', FORMAT(667.20000,'#.##'), 'string value')

 

SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Signed int %i, %d %i, %d, %+i, %+d, %+i, %+d', 5, -5, 50, -50, -11, -11, 11, 11); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Signed int with leading zero %020i', 5); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Signed int with leading zero 0 %020i', -55); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Unsigned int %u, %u', 50, -50); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Unsigned octal %o, %o', 50, -50); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Unsigned hexadecimal %x, %X, %X, %X, %x', 11, 11, -11, 50, -50); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Unsigned octal with prefix: %#o, %#o', 50, -50); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Unsigned hexadecimal with prefix: %#x, %#X, %#X, %X, %x', 11, 11, -11, 50, -50); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Hello %s!', 'TEST'); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Hello %20s!', 'TEST'); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Hello %-20s!', 'TEST'); 
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE('Hello %20s!', 'TEST');

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