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title: "TRANSLATE (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs"
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# TRANSLATE (Transact-SQL)
[!INCLUDE[tsql-appliesto-ss2017-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-md](../../includes/tsql-appliesto-ss2017-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-md.md)]

Returns the string provided as a first argument after some characters specified in the second argument are translated into a destination set of characters.

## Syntax   
```
TRANSLATE ( inputString, characters, translations) 
```

## Arguments   

inputString   
Is an [expression](../../t-sql/language-elements/expressions-transact-sql.md) of any character type (nvarchar, varchar, nchar, char).

characters   
Is a [expression](../../t-sql/language-elements/expressions-transact-sql.md) of any character type containing characters that should be replaced.

translations   
Is a character [expression](../../t-sql/language-elements/expressions-transact-sql.md) that matches second argument by type and length.

## Return Types   
Returns a character expression of the same type as `inputString` where characters from the second argument are replaced with the matching characters from third argument.

## Remarks   

`TRANSLATE` function will return an error if characters and translations have different lengths. `TRANSLATE` function should return unchanged input if null vales are provided as characters or replacement arguments. The behavior of the `TRANSLATE` function should be identical to the [REPLACE](../../t-sql/functions/replace-transact-sql.md) function.   

The behavior of the `TRANSLATE` function is equivalent to using multiple `REPLACE` functions.

`TRANSLATE` is always SC collation aware.

## Examples   

### A. Replace square and curly braces with regular braces    
The following query replaces square and curly braces in the input string with parentheses:
```
SELECT TRANSLATE('2*[3+4]/{7-2}', '[]{}', '()()');
```
[!INCLUDE[ssResult_md](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]
```
2*(3+4)/(7-2)
```

>  [!NOTE]
>  The `TRANSLATE` function in this example is equivalent to but much simplier than the following statement using `REPLACE`:
> `SELECT REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE('2*[3+4]/{7-2}','[','('), ']', ')'), '{', '('), '}', ')');` 


###  B. Convert GeoJSON points into WKT    
GeoJSON is a format for encoding a variety of geographic data structures. With the `TRANSLATE` function, developers can easily convert GeoJSON points to WKT format and vice versa. The following query replaces square and curly braces in input  with regular braces:   
```sql
SELECT TRANSLATE('[137.4, 72.3]' , '[,]', '( )') AS Point,
    TRANSLATE('(137.4 72.3)' , '( )', '[,]') AS Coordinates;
```

[!INCLUDE[ssResult_md](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]   


|Point  |Coordinates |  
---------|--------- |
(137.4  72.3) |[137.4,72.3] |


## See Also
 [CONCAT (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/concat-transact-sql.md)  
 [CONCAT_WS (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/concat-ws-transact-sql.md)  
 [FORMATMESSAGE (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/formatmessage-transact-sql.md)  
 [QUOTENAME (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/quotename-transact-sql.md)  
 [REPLACE (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/replace-transact-sql.md)  
 [REVERSE (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/reverse-transact-sql.md)  
 [STRING_AGG (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/string-agg-transact-sql.md)  
 [STRING_ESCAPE (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/string-escape-transact-sql.md)  
 [STUFF (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/stuff-transact-sql.md)  
 [String Functions (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/string-functions-transact-sql.md)