STUFF

Inserts a string into another string. It deletes a specified length of characters in the first string at the start position and then inserts the second string into the first string at the start position.

Syntax

STUFF ( character_expression, start, length, replaceWith_expression )

Arguments

character_expression

Is an expression of character data. character_expression can be a constant, variable, or column of either character or binary data.

start

Is an integer value that specifies the location to start deletion and insertion. If start or length is negative, a null string is returned. If start is longer than the first character_expression, a null string is returned. start can be of type bigint.

length

Is an integer that specifies the number of characters to delete. If length is longer than the first character_expression, deletion occurs up to the last character in the last character_expression. length can be of type bigint.

replaceWith_expression

Is an expression of character data. character_expression can be a constant, variable, or column of either character or binary data. This expression will replace length characters of character_expression beginning at start.

Return types

Returns character data if character_expression is one of the supported character data types. Returns binary data if character_expression is one of the supported binary data types.

Example

SELECT STUFF('abcdef', 2, 3, 'ijklmn');

See Also