String.Format like functionality in T-SQL?

Question

I\'m looking for a built-in function/extended function in T-SQL for string manipulation similar to the String.Format method in .NET.

Answer 1

here's what I found with my experiments using the built-in

FORMATMESSAGE() function

sp_addmessage @msgnum=50001,@severity=1,@msgText='Hello %s you are #%d',@replace='replace'
SELECT FORMATMESSAGE(50001, 'Table1', 5)

when you call up sp_addmessage, your message template gets stored into the system table master.dbo.sysmessages (verified on SQLServer 2000).

You must manage addition and removal of template strings from the table yourself, which is awkward if all you really want is output a quick message to the results screen.

The solution provided by Kathik DV, looks interesting but doesn't work with SQL Server 2000, so i altered it a bit, and this version should work with all versions of SQL Server:

IF OBJECT_ID( N'[dbo].[FormatString]', 'FN' ) IS NOT NULL
    DROP FUNCTION [dbo].[FormatString]
GO
/***************************************************
Object Name : FormatString
Purpose : Returns the formatted string.
Original Author : Karthik D V http://stringformat-in-sql.blogspot.com/
Sample Call:
SELECT dbo.FormatString ( N'Format {0} {1} {2} {0}', N'1,2,3' )
*******************************************/
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[FormatString](
@Format NVARCHAR(4000) ,
@Parameters NVARCHAR(4000)
)
RETURNS NVARCHAR(4000)
AS
BEGIN
    --DECLARE @Format NVARCHAR(4000), @Parameters NVARCHAR(4000) select @format='{0}{1}', @Parameters='hello,world'
    DECLARE @Message NVARCHAR(400), @Delimiter CHAR(1)
    DECLARE @ParamTable TABLE ( ID INT IDENTITY(0,1), Parameter VARCHAR(1000) )
    Declare @startPos int, @endPos int
    SELECT @Message = @Format, @Delimiter = ','

    --handle first parameter
     set @endPos=CHARINDEX(@Delimiter,@Parameters)
    if (@endPos=0 and @Parameters is not null) --there is only one parameter
        insert into @ParamTable (Parameter) values(@Parameters)
    else begin
        insert into @ParamTable (Parameter) select substring(@Parameters,0,@endPos)
    end

    while @endPos>0
    Begin
        --insert a row for each parameter in the 
        set @startPos = @endPos + LEN(@Delimiter)
        set @endPos = CHARINDEX(@Delimiter,@Parameters, @startPos)
        if (@endPos>0)
            insert into @ParamTable (Parameter) select substring(@Parameters,@startPos,@endPos)
        else
            insert into @ParamTable (Parameter) select substring(@Parameters,@startPos,4000)            
    End

    UPDATE @ParamTable SET @Message = REPLACE ( @Message, '{'+CONVERT(VARCHAR,ID) + '}', Parameter )
    RETURN @Message
END
Go
    grant execute,references on dbo.formatString to public

Usage:

print dbo.formatString('hello {0}... you are {1}','world,good')
--result: hello world... you are good