Transact-SQL Reference

xp_sscanf

Reads data from the string into the argument locations given by each format argument.

Syntax

xp_sscanf {string OUTPUT, format}
[, argument [,...n]]

Arguments

string

Is the character string to read the argument values from.

OUTPUT

When specified, places the value of argument in the output parameter.

format

Is a formatted character string similar to what is supported by the C-language sscanf function. Currently only the %s format argument is supported.

argument

Is a varchar variable set to the value of the corresponding format argument.

Is a placeholder indicating that a maximum of 50 arguments can be specified.

Return Code Values

0 (success) or 1 (failure)

Result Sets

xp_sscanf returns this message:

The command(s) completed successfully.

Permissions

Execute permissions default to the public role.

Examples

This example uses xp_sscanf to extract two values from a source string based on their positions in the format of the source string.

DECLARE @filename varchar (20), @message varchar (20)
EXEC xp_sscanf 'sync -b -fauthors10.tmp -rrandom', 'sync -b -f%s -r%s',
   @filename OUTPUT, @message OUTPUT
SELECT @filename, @message

Here is the result set:

-------------------- -------------------- 
authors10.tmp        random