Functions (Built-In)

Example: You need the average price of all the products in the products table. The AVG built-in function can be used in a SELECT statement to calculate and retrieve the average price. SQL Server provides a rich set of built-in functions in several different categories. Use existing built-in functions instead of creating your own.

• Can be accessed in a SELECT statement or a VIEW.

• Different functions accept varying input.

• Output can be scalar (single value) or a result set that can be used as a derived table.

• BOL topic “Functions (Transact-SQL)” has a category listing of built-in functions. Two examples are:

  • String functions can be used to manipulate character data such as LTRIM to remove leading spaces.

  • Date functions can be used to retrieve or manipulate dates such as GetDate() to get the current date.