text-manipulation functions

 

Commonly Used Text-Manipulation Functions

Function	Description
LEFT() (or use substring function)	Returns characters from left of string
LENGTH() (also DATALENGTH() or LEN())	Returns the length of a string
LOWER()	Converts string to lowercase
LTRIM() (LCASE() if using Access)	Trims white space from left of string
RIGHT() (or use substring function)	Returns characters from right of string
RTRIM()	Trims white space from right of string
SOUNDEX()	Returns a string's SOUNDEX value
UPPER() (UCASE() if using Access)	Converts string to uppercase

One item in Table requires further explanation. SOUNDEX is an algorithm that converts any string of text into an alphanumeric pattern describing the phonetic representation of that text. SOUNDEX takes into account similar sounding characters and syllables, enabling strings to be compared by how they sound rather than how they have been typed. Although SOUNDEX is not a SQL concept, most DBMSs do offer SOUNDEX support.