Built-In

Functions

Database Programming
Built-In Function Categories
 String Functions
 Mathematical / Numeric Functions
 Date Functions
 Other Functions
 Security Functions
 Conversion Functions

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Built-In Function Categories
 String Functions
 SUBSTRING
 UPPER , LOWER
 LEFT, RIGHT
 LEN
 STUFF
 REPLACE
 ASCII
 CHAR
 CONCAT
 CHARINDEX
 PATINDEX

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Built-In Function Categories
 Mathematical / Numeric Functions
 FLOOR
 CEILING
 ABS
 POWER
 ISNUMERIC

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Built-In Function Categories
 Date Functions
 GETDATE
 DATENAME
 DATEPART
 DAY
 MONTH
 YEAR
 DATEDIFF
 DATEADD
 ISDATE

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Built-In or System Functions

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Built-In Function
 Built-in function is a piece for programming that takes
zero or more inputs and returns a value
 The inputs to a function are called parameters
 Some functions have more than one others may not have any
 Parameters are enclosed in parenthesis.
 We use functions in the SELECT clause as well as
WHERE filter condition
 A function can be used anywhere in a SELECT statement that
you can use an expression.

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Deterministic & Nondeterministic
 A function is said to be Deterministic or
Nondeterministic Function depending on whether it
returns the same or different value given the same set of
input values.
 Deterministic functions always return the same result
 Nondeterministic functions may return different results each
time they are called
 Examples
 Deterministic
 DATEDIFF, ISNUMERIC, ISNULL
 Nondeterministic
 NEWID, NEWSEQUENTIALID

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String Functions
 SUBSTRING ( value_exp , start_exp , length_exp )
 Extracts length_exp number of characters from value_exp
starting from start_exp

SELECT LastName, SUBSTRING(FirstName, 1, 1) AS Initial

FROM Employee

SELECT x = SUBSTRING('abcdef', 2, 3)
Returns bcd

 UPPER ( character_expression )
 Returns a character expression converted to uppercase
 LOWER ( character_expression )
 Returns a character expression converted to lowercase
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String Functions (cont.)
 LEFT ( character_expression , integer_expression )
 Returns a specified no. of characters from the left part of a sting
 RIGHT ( character_expression , integer_expression )
 LEN ( string_expression )
 Returns the number of characters of the specified string expression,
excluding trailing blanks
 LTRIM(string_expression) | RTRIM(string_expression)
 Returns a character expression after it removes leading / trailing
spaces
 Examples
 SELECT LEFT ( 'abcdef' , 2 ) -- Returns ab
 SELECT LEN ( 'abcdef’ ) -- Returns 6
 SELECT RTRIM( LTRIM(FName))
FROM Employee

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String Functions (cont.)
 STUFF( character_expression , start, length ,character_expression )
 The STUFF function inserts a string into another string.
 It deletes a specified length of characters in the first string at the start
position and then inserts the second string into the first string at the
start position
 REPLACE ( string_expression1 , string_expression2 ,
string_expression3 )
 Replaces all occurrences of a specified string value with another string
value
 Examples
 SELECT STUFF('abcdef', 2, 3, 'ijklmn’)
 Returns -- aijklmnef
 SELECT REPLACE('abcdefghicde','cde','xxx’)
 Returns -- abxxxfghixxx

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String Functions (cont.)
 ASCII() Function
 The ASCII() function returns the ASCII value for the specific
character.
 Syntax
ASCII(character)
 Examples: Return the ASCII value of the 1st character in "City" column
SELECT ASCII(City)
FROM Employee
 Example 2: Return the ASCII value of a character
SELECT ASCII('c’) -- Returns 99
 CHAR() Function
 The CHAR() function returns the character based on the ASCII code
 Example
SELECT CHAR(65) -- Returns A
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String Functions (cont.)
 STR ( float_expression [ , length [ , decimal ] ] )
 The STR() function returns a number as a string.
 Examples
SELECT STR(185.5) -- Returns 186
SELECT STR(185.476, 6, 2) - Returns 185.48
SELECT STR(185.476, 7, 4) - Returns 185.476

 CONCAT() Function
 The CONCAT() function adds two or more strings together.
 Syntax
CONCAT(string1, string2, ...., string_n)
 Example
SELECT CONCAT('SQL', ' is', ' fun!');

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String Functions (cont.)
 CHARINDEX() Function
CHARINDEX ( expToFind , expToSearch [ , startAt ] )

 searches for one character expression inside a second character

expression
 returns the starting position of the first expression if found
 If CHARINDEX does not find expToFind within expToSearch,
CHARINDEX returns 0.

 Examples
SELECT CHARINDEX ('h', 'Schools’) -- Returns 3

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String Functions (cont.)
 PATINDEX() Function
 The PATINDEX() function returns the position of a pattern in a
string.
 Syntax
PATINDEX(%pattern%, string)

 If the pattern is not found, this function returns 0.

 Note: The search is case-insensitive and the first position in
string is 1.
 Examples
SELECT PATINDEX('%oo%', 'Schools’) -- Retuns 4
SELECT PATINDEX('%s%oo%', 'Schools’) -- Retuns 0

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Mathematical Functions
 FLOOR ( numeric_expression )
 Returns the largest integer less than or equal to the specified
numeric expression
 CEILING ( numeric_expression )
 ABS ( numeric_expression )
 A mathematical function that returns the absolute (positive) value
of the specified numeric expression.
 POWER ( float_expression , y )
 Returns the value of the specified expression to the specified
power.
 ISNUMERIC (expr)
 Checks if an expression is a valid numeric type

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Date Functions
 GETDATE ( )
 Returns the current date of the system
 DATENAME ( datepart , date )
 Returns a string that represents the datepart of the date
 DATEPART ( datepart , date )
 Returns an integer that represents the datepart of the date
 DAY ( date )
 Returns an integer that represents the day day part of the date
 MONTH ( date )
 Returns an integer that represents the month part of a date
 YEAR ( date )
 Returns an integer that represents the year part of a date
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Date Functions - Examples
 Return the current month name
 SELECT DATENAME ( month , GetDate() )
 Returns October

 Return the number for the month

 SELECT DATEPART ( month , GetDate() )
 Returns 10

 Return the number for day

 SELECT DAY ( GetDate() )
 Returns 25

 Return the number for year

SELECT Fname, Lname, YEAR ( EmploymentDate )
FROM Employee

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Date Functions (cont.)
 DATEDIFF ( datepart , startdate , enddate )
 Returns the number of date or time datepart boundaries that are
crossed between two specified dates
 DATEADD (datepart , number , date )
 Returns a new datetime value by adding an interval to the
specified datepart of the specified date
 ISDATE ( expression )
 Determines whether a datetime or smalldatetime input
expression is a valid date or time value.

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Security Functions
 CURRENT_USER
 Returns the name of the current user. This function is equivalent
to USER_NAME().
 SELECT CURRENT_USER
 USER_ID
 Returns the identification number for a database user.
 SELECT USER_ID(‘dbo');
 USER_NAME
 Returns a database user name from a specified identification
number
 Example
SELECT USER_NAME(4);
SELECT USER_NAME();
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CAST & CONVERT
 CAST
 Converts a value of one type into another datatype
 Syntax:
CAST ( expression AS data_type [ (length ) ])

 CONVERT
 Converts a value of one type into another datatype
 Syntax:
CONVERT ( data_type [ ( length ) ] , expression )

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Examples (CAST & CONVERT)
SELECT 9.5 AS Original
, CAST(9.5 AS int) AS int
, CAST(9.5 AS decimal(6,4)) AS decimal

OUTPUT > 9.5 9 9.5000

SELECT ‘Salary is ‘ + CAST(Salary AS varchar(12)) AS Salary

FROM Employee

SELECT ‘Salary is ‘ + Salary AS Salary

FROM Employee

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Examples (CAST & CONVERT)
SELECT SUBSTRING(FName, 1, 3) AS EmpName, Salary
FROM Employee
WHERE CAST(Salary AS INT) LIKE '3%’

SELECT CAST(FName AS VARCHAR(2)) AS EmpName

FROM Employee

SELECT CAST(25.65 AS int)

SELECT CAST(25.65 AS varchar)

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COALESCE
 Returns the first non-null expression among its
arguments
 At least one of the null values must be a typed NULL
 Syntax:
COALESCE ( expression [ ,...n ] )

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COALESCE - Example
 Examples

SELECT ProductID , UnitPrice, minPrice,

COALESCE(0.9 * UnitPrice, minPrice , 5) AS Sale
FROM Product
ORDER BY UnitPrice, minPrice , Sale

SELECT FName + ‘ ' + COALESCE(LName, GFName)

AS EmpName
FROM Employee

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COALESCE and CASE
 The COALESCE expression is a syntactic shortcut for
the CASE expression
 The following two expressions are equivalent

COALESCE (expr1, expr2)

CASE
WHEN expr1 IS NOT NULL THEN expr1
ELSE expr2
END

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More Functions
 ISNULL Function
 Syntax
ISNULL ( check_expression , replacement_value )

 The value of check_expression is returned if it is not NULL;

otherwise, replacement_value is returned

 Example: Find the average of the weight of all products by

substituting the value 50 for all NULL entries in the Weight
column of the Product table

SELECT AVG(ISNULL(Weight, 50))

FROM Product;

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More Functions
 NULLIF
 Same as . . . . “Return NULL if they are equal”
 Returns NULL if two expressions are equal, otherwise it returns
the first expression
 Syntax
NULLIF(expr1, expr2)

 Example
SELECT NULLIF(4,4) AS Same
, NULLIF(5,7) AS Different

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More Functions
 @@ERROR Function
 @@IDENTITY Function
 SCOPE_IDENTITY
 IDENT_CURRENT, and
 @@IDENTITY
 @@ROWCOUNT Function

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Exercise on Built-in Functions
 Write a given name in the proper form (Capitalize 1st
letter )
 Find the age of a person given the date of birth
 Generate User names for each employee
 Rule: First letter of the first name concatenated with the last
names
 Extract the first name and last name from a given full
name

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