Remove the last character in a string in T-SQL?

Question

How do I remove the last character in a string in T-SQL?

For example:

\'TEST STRING\'

to return:

\'TES         


        

Answer 1

declare @x varchar(20),@y varchar(20)
select @x='sam'
select 
case when @x is null then @y
      when @y is null then @x
      else @x+','+@y
end


go

declare @x varchar(20),@y varchar(20)
select @x='sam'
--,@y='john'
DECLARE @listStr VARCHAR(MAX)   

SELECT @listStr = COALESCE(@x + ', ' ,'') +coalesce(@y+',','')
SELECT left(@listStr,len(@listStr)-1)

Answer 2

If your string is empty,

DECLARE @String VARCHAR(100)
SET @String = ''
SELECT LEFT(@String, LEN(@String) - 1)

then this code will cause error message 'Invalid length parameter passed to the substring function.'

You can handle it this way:

SELECT LEFT(@String, NULLIF(LEN(@String)-1,-1))

It will always return result, and NULL in case of empty string.

Answer 3

Try It :

  DECLARE @String NVARCHAR(100)
    SET @String = '12354851'
    SELECT LEFT(@String, NULLIF(LEN(@String)-1,-1))

Answer 4

e.g.

DECLARE @String VARCHAR(100)
SET @String = 'TEST STRING'

-- Chop off the end character
SET @String = 
     CASE @String WHEN null THEN null 
     ELSE (
         CASE LEN(@String) WHEN 0 THEN @String 
            ELSE LEFT(@String, LEN(@String) - 1) 
         END 
     ) END


SELECT @String

Answer 5

My answer is similar to the accepted answer, but it also check for Null and Empty String.

DECLARE @String VARCHAR(100)

SET @String = 'asdfsdf1'

-- If string is null return null, else if string is empty return as it is, else chop off the end character
SET @String = Case @String when null then null else (case LEN(@String) when 0 then @String else LEFT(@String, LEN(@String) - 1) end ) end

SELECT @String

Answer 6

I can suggest this -hack- ;).

select 
    left(txt, abs(len(txt + ',') - 2))
from 
    t;

SQL Server Fiddle Demo