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Append new text to a column

Author

Topic

Hommer
Aged Yak Warrior

808 Posts

Posted - 2012-10-02 : 11:04:42

Hi,

I have a need to append a text string into a column of nvarchar.
Something like next:

Update my_table
set my_Col = select my_col from my_table where id = 123 + "new text"
where id = 123

But I don't think I get the syntax right.

Also, this code is called from app side. Is there a way to not select the existing value to save a round trip?

Thanks!

sunitabeck
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

5155 Posts

Posted - 2012-10-02 : 11:15:15

The correct syntax would be this:

Update my_table 
set my_Col = my_col + 'new text'
where id = 123

It has no "SELECT", so there is no roundtrip.

If there is nothing in my_col (i.e., if it is null), for it to work correctly, you also need to do one more thing, see below:

Update my_table 
set my_Col = COALESCE(my_col,'') + 'new text'
where id = 123

visakh16
Very Important crosS Applying yaK Herder

52326 Posts

Posted - 2012-10-02 : 11:35:35

also make sure my_Col has sufficient length to hold the new appended string as well

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SQL Server MVP
http://visakhm.blogspot.com/

Hommer
Aged Yak Warrior

808 Posts

Posted - 2012-10-02 : 11:41:41

THANKS! You guys are awesome!

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