SPACE (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric

Returns a string of repeated spaces.

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

SPACE ( integer_expression )  

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)

varchar

To include spaces in Unicode data, or to return more than 8000 character spaces, use REPLICATE instead of SPACE.

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 AdventureWorks2022.

USE AdventureWorks2022;  
GO  
SELECT RTRIM(LastName) + ',' + SPACE(2) +  LTRIM(FirstName)  
FROM Person.Person  
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;  
GO  

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  

REPLICATE (Transact-SQL)
String Functions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)