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sql-serversql-server-2005sqlcmd

Remove trailing spaces from fixed length in output file generated by sqlcmd

I have a table in SQL Server 2005 with single column of type varchar(500). Data in the column is always 350 characters in length.

When I run a select on it in SSMS query editor, copy & paste the result set in to a text file, the line length in the file is 350, which matches the actual data length.

But when I use sqlcmd with the -o parameter, the resulting file has line length 500, which matches the max length of varchar(500).

Without using any string functions in select, is there a way to let sqlcmd know not to treat it like char(500)?

Solution

  • You can use the sqlcmd formatting option -W to remove trailing spaces from the output file.

    Read more at this MSDN article.