SQL: Visual QuickStart Guide

Trimming Characters with TRIM()

Use the TRIM() function to remove unwanted characters from the ends of a string. The TRIM() function’s important characteristics are:

• You can trim leading characters, trailing characters, or both. (You can’t use TRIM() to remove characters from within a string.)

• By default, TRIM() trims spaces, but you can strip off any unwanted characters, such as leading and trailing zeros or asterisks.

• TRIM() typically is used to format results and make comparisons in a WHERE clause.

• TRIM() is useful for trimming trailing spaces from CHAR values. Recall from “Character String Types” in Chapter 3 that DBMSes automatically add spaces to the end of CHAR values to create strings of exactly a specified length.

• Trimming has no effect ...