SQL Server 2012 – String Function – CONCAT

SQL Server 2012 has introduced a new string function namely “CONCAT”. It is a very handy & important function to deal with the string concatenation.

Let me explain its syntax, parameters, purpose and examples in detail.
Syntax :

     CONCAT ( string_value1, string_value2 [, string_valueN ] )

Parameters :
@string_value1 : First string value to concatenate with other strings.
@string_value2 : Second string value to concatenate with other strings.
It will go up to (n) Numbers of strings.

Purpose :
It concatenates two or more than two strings and returns as a single string value. Minimum we need to pass two strings to concatenate otherwise it will generate an error. It implicitly converts parameters to string. If The parameters are NULL it treats it as empty string of varchar(1).

Let me explain this with simple examples.

Example-1 : CONCAT – String values

Select Concat('SQL Server ','2012') as [Result]

Result
---------------
SQL Server 2012

(1 row(s) affected)

Example-2 : CONCAT – Integer values
In this example, “CONCAT” function will implicitly convert integer data type to string data type and concatenate it.

Select CONCAT(1,2) as [Result]

Result
------------------------
12

(1 row(s) affected)

Example-3 : CONCAT – Numeric values
In this example, “CONCAT” function will implicitly convert numeric data type to string data type and concatenate it.

Select CONCAT(12.34,56.78) as [Result]

Result
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.3456.78

(1 row(s) affected)

Example-4 : CONCAT – Less than 2 strings

Select Concat('SQL Server ') as [Result]

Msg 189, Level 15, State 1, Line 1
The concat function requires 2 to 254 arguments.

Example-5 : CONCAT – Passed NULL as parameter
It converts NULL to empty string of varchar(1) and return it.

Select Concat('SQL Server ',NULL) as [Result]

Result
---------------
SQL Server 

(1 row(s) affected)

Example-6 : CONCAT – Passed NULL Values from Database
Before in SQL server 2012, we had to use ISNULL to convert NULL to empty string & concatenate.
But this function resolves this issue. It automatically converts NULL to empty string. Lets use Adventure database to test it.

Select top 10 [FirstName] ,  [MiddleName] , [LastName] 
,[FirstName] +  [MiddleName] + [LastName] as [Full Name]
from [Person].[Person]

In the above example, due to the NULL values in the middle name column SQL failed to concatenate it and return NULL as [Full Name]

Lets try to do the same with “CONCAT” function.

Select top 10 [FirstName] ,  [MiddleName] , [LastName] 
,Concat([FirstName] , [MiddleName] , [LastName]) as [Full Name]
from [Person].[Person]

In the above example, CONCAT function replaced NULL with emprty string and concatenates the FULL Name successfully.

Reference : MSDN