Question

Given the following – how can I replace trailing spaces with 0’s in SQL Server?

CREATE TABLE TestTable
(
    TestField CHAR(8)
)   

INSERT INTO TestTable
SELECT ' 1 1 1  '   
INSERT INTO TestTable
SELECT ' 1 1 1 1'   

SELECT  
TestField,   
LEN(TestField) AS LenTestField,
REPLACE(TestField, ' ', '0') AS TestFieldReplaced,
LEN(REPLACE(TestField, ' ', '0')) AS LenTestFieldReplaced,
REPLACE(TestField, ' ', '0') + REPLICATE('0', DATALENGTH(TestField)-LEN(TestField)), 
REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR,TestField), ' ', '0')
FROM    TestTable

Answer 1

You can leverage the difference in LEN and DATALENGTH. LEN removes trailing spaces,DATALENGTH doesn’t. And REPLICATE will take a zero length parameter

SELECT
   RTRIM(TestField) + REPLICATE('0', DATALENGTH(TestField)-LEN(TestField))
FROM
   TestTable