SQL Server TRIM character

Question

I have the following string: \'BOB*\', how do I trim the * so it shows up as \'BOB\'

I tried the RTRIM(\'BOB*\',\'*\') but does not work as says needs only 1 paramet

Answer 1

If you only want to remove a single '*' character from the value when the value ends with a '*', a simple CASE expression will do that for you:

SELECT CASE WHEN RIGHT(foo,1) = '*' THEN LEFT(foo,LEN(foo)-1) ELSE foo END AS foo
  FROM (SELECT 'BOB*' AS foo)

To remove all trailing '*' characters, then you'd need a more complex expression, making use of the REVERSE, PATINDEX, LEN and LEFT functions.

NOTE: Be careful with the REPLACE function, as that will replace all occurrences of the specified character within the string, not just the trailing ones.