TEXTPTR

Returns the text-pointer value that corresponds to a text, ntext, or image column in varbinary format. The retrieved text pointer value can be used in READTEXT, WRITETEXT, and UPDATETEXT statements.

Syntax

TEXTPTR ( column )

Arguments

column

Is the text, ntext, or image column to be used.

Return Types

varbinary

Remarks

In Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000, for tables with in row text, TEXTPTR returns a handle for the text to be processed. You can obtain a valid text pointer even if the text value is null.

If the table does not have in row text, and if a text, ntext, or image column has not been initialized by an UPDATETEXT statement, TEXTPTR returns a null pointer.

Use TEXTVALID to check whether a text pointer exists. You cannot use UPDATETEXT, WRITETEXT, or READTEXT without a valid text pointer.

These functions and statements are also useful with text, ntext, and image data.

Examples

A. Use TEXTPTR

This example uses the TEXTPTR function to locate the image column logo associated with New Moon Books in the pub_info table of the pubs database. The text pointer is put into a local variable @ptrval.

USE pubs
GO
DECLARE @ptrval varbinary(16)
SELECT @ptrval = TEXTPTR(logo) 
FROM pub_info pr, publishers p
WHERE p.pub_id = pr.pub_id 
   AND p.pub_name = 'New Moon Books'
GO

B. Use TEXTPTR with in row text

In SQL Server 2000, the in row text pointer must be used inside a transaction. Here is an example.

CREATE TABLE t1 (c1 int, c2 text)
EXEC sp_tableoption 't1', 'text in row', 'on'
INSERT t1 VALUES ('1', 'This is text.')
GO
BEGIN TRAN
   DECLARE @ptrval VARBINARY(16)
   SELECT @ptrval = TEXTPTR(c2)
   FROM t1
   WHERE c1 = 1
   READTEXT t1.c2 @ptrval 0 1
COMMIT

C. Return text data

This example selects the pub_id column and the 16-byte text pointer of the pr_info column from the pub_info table.

USE pubs
GO
SELECT pub_id, TEXTPTR(pr_info)
FROM pub_info
ORDER BY pub_id
GO

Here is the result set:

pub_id                                    
------ ---------------------------------- 
0736   0x6c0000000000feffb801000001000100 
0877   0x6d0000000000feffb801000001000300 
1389   0x6e0000000000feffb801000001000500 
1622   0x700000000000feffb801000001000900 
1756   0x710000000000feffb801000001000b00 
9901   0x720000000000feffb801000001000d00 
9952   0x6f0000000000feffb801000001000700 
9999   0x730000000000feffb801000001000f00 

(8 row(s) affected)

This example shows how to return the first 8,000 bytes of text without using TEXTPTR.

USE pubs
GO
SET TEXTSIZE 8000
SELECT pub_id, pr_info
FROM pub_info
ORDER BY pub_id
GO

Here is the result set:

pub_id pr_info                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
------ -----------------------------------------------------------------
0736   New Moon Books (NMB) has just released another top ten publication. With the latest publication this makes NMB the hottest new publisher of the year!                                                                                                           
0877   This is sample text data for Binnet & Hardley, publisher 0877 in the pubs database. Binnet & Hardley is located in Washington, D.C.

This is sample text data for Binnet & Hardley, publisher 0877 in the pubs database. Binnet & Hardley is located in Washi 
1389   This is sample text data for Algodata Infosystems, publisher 1389 in the pubs database. Algodata Infosystems is located in Berkeley, California.

9999   This is sample text data for Lucerne Publishing, publisher 9999 in the pubs database. Lucerne publishing is located in Paris, France.

This is sample text data for Lucerne Publishing, publisher 9999 in the pubs database. Lucerne publishing is located in 

(8 row(s) affected)

D. Return specific text data

This example locates the text column (pr_info) associated with pub_id 0736 in the pub_info table of the pubs database. It first declares the local variable @val. The text pointer (a long binary string) is then put into @val and supplied as a parameter to the READTEXT statement, which returns 10 bytes starting at the fifth byte (offset of 4).

USE pubs
GO
DECLARE @val varbinary(16)
SELECT @val = TEXTPTR(pr_info) 
FROM pub_info
WHERE pub_id = '0736'
READTEXT pub_info.pr_info @val 4 10
GO

Here is the result set:

(1 row(s) affected)

pr_info                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 is sample

See Also

DATALENGTH

PATINDEX

READTEXT

SET TEXTSIZE

Text and Image Functions

UPDATETEXT

WRITETEXT