The code below is functionally equivalent to a VB Replace function, but, instead, it allows you to perform an action in a Text type field in a SQL Server Stored Procedure. This functionality can be especially useful in content management type situations, allowing you, for example, to replace all carriage returns with an HTML
tag.
CREATE Procedure sp_replaceASDECLARE @pointer binary(16), @iPatternLoc Integer, @rowId Integer--@rowId is an arbitrary row identifier this could be passed in by-- a parameterSELECT @rowId = 1--Select Satement below retrieves first location of a searched--pattern (in this case carriege return) and assigns it to--@iPatternLoc variableSELECT @iPatternLoc = PATINDEX('%' + CHAR(13) + '%',text_field)FROM someTable WHERE someTableId = @rowId--This Select statement returns a pointer variable pointed to thetext_field--column.SELECT @pointer = TEXTPTR(text_field)FROM someTableWHERE text_field = @rowIdSelect @iPatternLoc = @iPatternLoc - 1--Loop through all instances of Char(13) and replace them with--
using the UPDATETEXT functionWHILE @iPatternLoc > -1 BEGIN UPDATETEXT text_field @pointer @iPatternLoc 4 '
' SELECT @iPatternLoc = PATINDEX('%' + CHAR(13) + '%',text_field) FROM someTable WHERE someTableId = @rowId Select @iPatternLoc = @iPatternLoc - 1 END
