SQL in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

SQL Server-Supported Functions

This section provides an alphabetical listing of Microsoft SQL Server-supported functions, with examples and corresponding results.

ACOS(number)

Returns the arccosine of number, ranging from −1 to 1. The result ranges from 0 to π and is expressed in radians. For example:

SELECT ACOS( 0 ) -> 1.570796

APP_NAME( )

Returns the application name for the current session, set by the application. For example:

SELECT APP_NAME(  ) -> 'SQL Enterprise Manager'

ASCII(text)

Returns the ASCII code of the first character of text. For example:

SELECT ASCII('x') -> 120

ASIN(number)

Returns the arcsine of number, ranging from −1 to 1. The resulting value ranges from -π/2 to π/2 and is expressed in radians. For example:

SELECT ASIN( 0 ) -> 0.000000

ATAN(number)

Returns the arctangent of any number. The resulting value ranges from -π/2 to π/2 and is expressed in radians. For example:

SELECT ATAN( 3.1415 ) -> 1.262619

ATN2(float1, float2)

Returns the angle (in radians) whose tangent is float1/float2. For example:

SELECT ATN2( 35.175643, 129.44 ) -> 0.265345

BINARY_CHECKSUM(* | expression[, . . . n])

Returns the binary checksum for a list of expressions or for a row of a table. This example returns a list of user IDs where the stored password checksum doesn’t match the current password’s checksum:

SELECT userid AS 'Changed' FROM users
WHERE NOT password_chksum = BINARY_CHECKSUM( password )

CHAR(integer_expression)

Converts a numeric ASCII code to a character. For example:

SELECT CHAR( 78 ) -> 'N' ...