TRANSLATE function in SQL SERVER

Question

I read that there is a function equivalent to the standard function TRANSLATE under DB2 under SQL Server 2017. But how to do under earlier versions?

For definition of fu

Answer 1

Better than a WHILE loop is - at least in my eyes - the quirky update wrapped in a function:

You can maintain replace values in a table. You might add some grouping keys (e.g. for languag selection or topic focus) and pass this into the function as additional parameter:

CREATE TABLE ReplaceValues (FindChar NVARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
                           ,ReplWith NVARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
                           ,SortOrder INT NOT NULL);
INSERT INTO ReplaceValues VALUES('a','x',1)         --all "a" will be "x"
                               ,('test','yeah!',2)  --"test" will be "yeah"
                               ,('hello','ciao',3)  --"hello" will be "ciao"
                               ,('xxx','magic',4);  --this is magic (see below)
GO

--You cannot use the quirky update inlined, but you can wrap it within a scalar function:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.MultiReplace(@ReplaceTarget VARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
    --Quirky Update: One of the rare situations where this is a good idea 
    SELECT @ReplaceTarget=REPLACE(@ReplaceTarget,rv.FindChar,rv.ReplWith)
    FROM ReplaceValues AS rv
    ORDER BY rv.SortOrder;

    RETURN @ReplaceTarget;
END
GO

--A table with test data

declare @t table(TestString varchar(100))
insert into @t values('This string is without repls')
                    ,('This is a test, hello, one more test')
                    ,('See the cascade replace with aaa, which is converted to xxx, then to magic');

--...and the magic is going in here:

SELECT t.TestString
      ,dbo.MultiReplace(t.TestString) AS Translated
FROM @t AS t
GO

--Clean-Up

DROP FUNCTION dbo.MultiReplace;
DROP TABLE ReplaceValues;

The result

This string is without repls
This is x yeah!, ciao, one more yeah!
See the cxscxde replxce with magic, which is converted to magic, then to mxgic