Functions for Manipulating Data in SQL Server

In this chapter, you will learn what are the most used data types in SQL Server. You will understand the differences between implicit and explicit conversion and how each type of conversion manifests. You will also get familiar with the functions used for explicitly converting data: CAST() and CONVERT().

Date and time functions are an important topic for databases. In this chapter, you will get familiar with the most common functions for date and time manipulation. You will learn how to retrieve the current date, only parts from a date, to assemble a date from pieces and to check if an expression is a valid date or not.

Strings are one of the most commonly used data types in databases. It's important to know what you can do with them. In this chapter, you will learn how to manipulate strings, to get the results you want.

In this chapter, you will work with functions applied to numeric data. You will use aggregate functions for calculating the minimum, maximum or the sum of values from a set. You will learn how to raise a number to a power or to calculate its square root.