Question

I want to ask:

len(someTextField)
ltrim(someTextField)

which doesn’t work, as the above functions apparently only work with string but not text

Any alternative ways to perform the same?

Answer 1

Use varchar(max) not text since SQL Server 2005+

If you are stuck with text or ntext, you can use DATALENGTH to replace LEN. There are differences with it (no implied RTRIM, measures bytes not characters) but your options are limited.

There is no LTRIM equivalent for the old datatypes

You can CAST the columns though:

CREATE TABLE dbo.Typetest (OldCol text NULL)
GO
INSERT dbo.TypeTest (OldCol) VALUES ('abcdefg')
INSERT dbo.TypeTest (OldCol) VALUES ('abcdefghijklm')
GO
SELECT LEN(CAST(OldCol AS varchar(max))), LTRIM(CAST(OldCol AS varchar(max))) FROM dbo.Typetest
GO
DROP TABLE dbo.Typetest
GO