Pad a string with leading zeros so it's 3 characters long in SQL Server 2008

Question

I have a string that is up to 3 characters long when it\'s first created in SQL Server 2008 R2.

I would like to pad it with leading zeros, so if its original value w

Answer 1

Wrote this because I had requirements for up to a specific length (9). Pads the left with the @pattern ONLY when the input needs padding. Should always return length defined in @pattern.

declare @charInput as char(50) = 'input'

--always handle NULL :)
set @charInput = isnull(@charInput,'')

declare @actualLength as int = len(@charInput)

declare @pattern as char(50) = '123456789'
declare @prefLength as int = len(@pattern)

if @prefLength > @actualLength
    select Left(Left(@pattern, @prefLength-@actualLength) + @charInput, @prefLength)
else
    select @charInput

Returns 1234input