To trim leading zeros in SQL Server, you can use several techniques. The most efficient approach for numeric values is to CAST or CONVERT the string to an integer, which automatically removes leading zeros:
SELECT CAST(CAST(ColumnName AS INT) AS VARCHAR) AS TrimmedColumn
FROM YourTable;
For string-based data, LTRIM combined with REPLACE can be used:
SELECT LTRIM(REPLACE(ColumnName, ‘0’, ‘ ‘)) AS TrimmedColumn
FROM YourTable;
Another approach involves RIGHT and PATINDEX for fixed-length results:
SELECT RIGHT(ColumnName, LEN(ColumnName) – PATINDEX(‘%[^0]%’, ColumnName) + 1) AS TrimmedColumn
FROM YourTable;
This ensures an efficient trimming method based on your data type.