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

I've used a similar approach to some of the above answers of using pattern matching and reversing the string to find the first non-trimmable character, then cutting that off. The difference is this version does less work than those above, so should be a little more efficient.

• This creates RTRIM functionality for any specified character.
• It includes an additional step set @charToFind = case... to escape the chosen character.
• There is currently an issue if @charToReplace is a right crotchet (]) as there appears to be no way to escape this.

.

declare @stringToSearch nvarchar(max) = '****this is****a  ** demo*****'
, @charToFind nvarchar(5) = '*' 

--escape @charToFind so it doesn't break our pattern matching
set @charToFind = case @charToFind 
    when ']' then '[]]' --*this does not work / can't find any info on escaping right crotchet*
    when '^' then '\^'
    --when '%' then '%' --doesn't require escaping in this context
    --when '[' then '[' --doesn't require escaping in this context
    --when '_' then '_' --doesn't require escaping in this context
    else @charToFind
end

select @stringToSearch
, left
(
    @stringToSearch
    ,1 
    + len(@stringToSearch)
    - patindex('%[^' + @charToFind  + ']%',reverse(@stringToSearch))
)