RPAD and LPAD Functions in Sql Server

Edit: If you are using SQL Server 2012 or 2014 you may like to see my new post on this topic: LPAD and RPAD Functions in SQL Server

In Sql Server we don’t have RPAD and LPAD functions as they are in Oracle. But it is not that difficult to implement the same thing in Sql Server. With the help of RIGHT and LEFT functions we can achieve that easily. Let’s see how…

First create this table:
CREATE TABLE Temp(Id INT)
GO

Now insert the table Temp with some sample data:
INSERT INTO Temp SELECT
1 UNION SELECT
2 UNION SELECT
12 UNION SELECT
123 UNION SELECT
1234 UNION SELECT
12345
GO

And here is our RPAD and LPAD query

SELECT ID
,RIGHT( '00000' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(5), Id), 5) as LPAD_Example
,LEFT( CONVERT (VARCHAR(5), Id)+'00000' , 5) as RAPD_Example
FROM Temp

--END--

- Mangal Pardeshi

Linked Server Error : Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1

In this post I'll show you a simple solution to a very common error you get while running a query against a linked Server.
You create a Linked Server with Flat Files, Excel or DBF in SQL Server using Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 and when you try run a query against it you get the error
--Error--
OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server " " returned message "Cannot start your application. The workgroup information file is missing or opened exclusively by another user.".
Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
The OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "" reported an error. Authentication failed.
Msg 7303, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
Cannot initialize the data source object of OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "".

Well whatever study I have done on this particular error, I have observed that you will get this error only when try to query from a remote machine. And this is something to do with the Security Context of the Linked Server.

Solution to this problem is very simple. Simply follow steps -
1.Open the Management Studio and navigate to Server Objects and then to Linked Server.
2.Right click on your Linked Server Name, and click on Properties.
3.Go to Security Page. Now for solving above problem you have 2 option, you can try any of the below 2 option.

A] Select the option “Be made without using a security context” by clicking on radio button.

OR

B] Select the last option “Be made using this security context ”.
As soon as click on the radio button before “Be made using this security context ”, the“Remote login” and “With password” text boxes become active to be filled in.
Now in the “Remote login”, enter Admin as the login user. Leave the password text box as blank.
Now just click on OK, and now can run the query against your linked server without any error.

- Mangal Pardeshi.

How to delete the Duplicate Rows from SQL Server table

Lets see how to delete the duplicate Rows from SQL Server table.

Sample Table:

ID	NAMES	CODE
1	Mangal	101
1	Mangal	101
1	Mangal	101
2	Ricky	102
3	Brian	103
4	shiv	104
4	Shiv	104
5	Kunal	105
5	Kunal	105
6	Kate	106

As you can see in above table, record with Id 1 has come thrice, and ID 4 and 7 has come twice.

Desired Output: after removing duplicates -

ID	NAMES	CODE
1	Mangal	101
2	Ricky	102
3	Brian	103
4	Shiv	104
5	Kunal	105
6	Kate	106

Create And Load Sample Data -

-- Create Sample table CREATE TABLE Temp ( Id INT, Names VARCHAR(100), Code INT ) GO -- Load sample data INSERT INTO Temp SELECT 1, 'Mangal', 123 UNION ALL SELECT 1, 'Mangal', 123 UNION ALL SELECT 1, 'Mangal', 123 UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'Ricky', 134  UNION ALL SELECT 3, 'Brian', 435 UNION ALL SELECT 4, 'Shiv', 223   UNION ALL SELECT 4, 'Shiv', 223   UNION ALL SELECT 5, 'Kunal', 654  UNION ALL SELECT 5, 'Kunal', 654  UNION ALL SELECT 6, 'Kate', 611 GO

Now first lets see how to find duplicate rows. With SQL Server 2005/2008 and Row_Number function, it has become very easy.


To Find Duplicate rows :

WITH Cte AS ( SELECT Id, Names, Code, ROW_NUMBER() Over (PARTITION BY Id ORDER BY ID) as Seq FROM TEMP ) SELECT DISTINCT ID, Names, Code FROM Cte WHERE Seq > 1

To Delete the Duplicate Rows :

WITH Cte AS ( SELECT Id, Names, Code, ROW_NUMBER() Over (PARTITION BY Id ORDER BY ID) as Seq FROM TEMP ) DELETE FROM cte WHERE Seq > 1

- Mangal Pardeshi