space-transact-sql.md

title	SPACE (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs
ms.custom
ms.date	03/15/2017
ms.prod	sql
ms.prod_service	database-engine, sql-database, sql-data-warehouse, pdw
ms.reviewer
ms.technology	t-sql
ms.topic	language-reference
f1_keywords	SPACE_TSQL SPACE
dev_langs	TSQL
helpviewer_keywords	strings [SQL Server], repeated spaces repeated spaces SPACE function
ms.assetid	b4fac3b8-2d47-4c11-a6a6-009e5a538f40
author	julieMSFT
ms.author	jrasnick
monikerRange	>=aps-pdw-2016||=azuresqldb-current||=azure-sqldw-latest||>=sql-server-2016||=sqlallproducts-allversions||>=sql-server-linux-2017||=azuresqldb-mi-current

SPACE (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDEtsql-appliesto-ss2008-all-md]

Returns a string of repeated spaces.

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

SPACE ( integer_expression )  

Arguments

integer_expression
Is a positive integer that indicates the number of spaces. If integer_expression is negative, a null string is returned.

For more information, see Expressions (Transact-SQL)

Return Types

varchar

Remarks

To include spaces in Unicode data, or to return more than 8000 character spaces, use REPLICATE instead of SPACE.

Examples

The following example trims the last names and concatenates a comma, two spaces, and the first names of people listed in the Person table in AdventureWorks2012.

USE AdventureWorks2012;  
GO  
SELECT RTRIM(LastName) + ',' + SPACE(2) +  LTRIM(FirstName)  
FROM Person.Person  
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;  
GO  

Examples: [!INCLUDEssSDWfull] and [!INCLUDEssPDW]

The following example trims the last names and concatenates a comma, two spaces, and the first names of people listed in the DimCustomer table in AdventureWorksPDW2012.

-- Uses AdventureWorks  
  
SELECT RTRIM(LastName) + ',' + SPACE(2) +  LTRIM(FirstName)  
FROM dbo.DimCustomer  
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;  
GO  

See Also

REPLICATE (Transact-SQL)
String Functions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)