SPACE (Transact-SQL)

**APPLIES TO:** ![yes](media/yes.png)SQL Server (starting with 2008) ![yes](media/yes.png)Azure SQL Database ![yes](media/yes.png)Azure SQL Data Warehouse ![yes](media/yes.png)Parallel Data Warehouse

Returns a string of repeated spaces.

Topic link icon 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