string-operators-transact-sql.md

title	description	author	ms.author	ms.reviewer	ms.date	ms.service	ms.subservice	ms.topic	ms.custom	helpviewer_keywords	dev_langs	monikerRange
String operators (Transact-SQL)	String operators (Transact-SQL)	rwestMSFT	randolphwest	jopilov	06/06/2023	sql	t-sql	reference	ignite-2024	operators [Transact-SQL], string concatenation plus sign (+) string concatenation operators + (string concatenation)	TSQL	>=aps-pdw-2016 || =azuresqldb-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric

String operators (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricse-fabricdw-fabricsqldb]

[!INCLUDEssNoVersion] provides the following string operators. String concatenation operators can combine two or more of the following data types into one expression:

• character or binary strings
• columns
• combination of strings and column names

Wildcard string operators can match one or more characters in a string comparison operation. LIKE and PATINDEX are examples of two of these operations.

In this section

• = (String comparison or assignment)
• + (String concatenation)
• += (String concatenation assignment)
• % (Wildcard - character(s) to match)
• [ ] (Wildcard - character(s) to match)
• [^] (Wildcard - character(s) not to match)
• _ (Wildcard - match one character)