STUFF
Deletes a specified length of characters and inserts another set of characters at a specified starting point.
Syntax
STUFF ( character_expression , start , length , character_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 begin 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.
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.
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.
Remarks
String functions can be nested.
Examples
This example returns a character string created by deleting three characters from the first string (abcdef) starting at position 2 (at b) and inserting the second string at the deletion point.
SELECT STUFF('abcdef', 2, 3, 'ijklmn')
GO
Here is the result set:
---------
aijklmnef
(1 row(s) affected)