\ (Backslash) (Transact-SQL)

  • Article

Breaks a long string constant into two or more lines for readability.

Topic link icon Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

<first section of string> \
<continued section of string>

Arguments

  • <first section of string>
    Is the start of a string.

  • <continued section of string>
    Is the continuation of a string.

Remarks

This command returns the first and continued sections of the string as one string, without the backslash.

The backslash is not a Transact-SQL statement. It is a command that is recognized by the sqlcmd and osql utilities and SQL Server Management Studio Code Editor.

Examples

The following example uses a backslash and a carriage return to split the string into two lines.

SELECT 'abc\
def' AS ColumnResult;

Here is the result set.

ColumnResult

------------

abcdef

See Also

Reference

Data Types (Transact-SQL)

Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)

Operators (Transact-SQL)

/ (Divide) (Transact-SQL)

/= (Divide EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)

Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)