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Chapter 8: Data Types, Expressions, and Scalar Functions
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Results
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Patrick 1 LeBlancThe FORMAT Function
The FORMAT function, as the name states, returns a formatted value:DECLARE @myMoney decimal(5,2) = 10.52;
SELECT FORMAT(@myMoney, 'C', 'en-US');Result:MyMoney
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$10.52The fi rst argument can be an explicit value or a parameter, which is the value that will be
formatted. The second is a .NET format string. In the above example C was used to format
the value to currency. The fi nal, which is optional, is the language. If it is not provided
the default language will be used.Soundex Functions .............................................................................................
Soundex is a phonetic pattern-matching system created for the American census. Franklin
Roosevelt directed the United States Bureau of Archives to develop a method of cataloguing
the population that could handle variations in the spelling of similar surnames. Margaret
K. Odell and Robert C. Russell developed Soundex and were awarded U.S. patents 1261167
(1918) and 1435663 (1922) for their efforts. The census fi ling card for each household was
then fi led under the Soundex method. Soundex has been applied to every census since and
has been post-applied to census records back to 1880.The purpose of Soundex is to sort similar-sounding names together, which is useful for
dealing with contact information in a database application. For example, if I call a phone
bank and give them my name (LeBlanc), they invariably spell it “LaBlanc” in the contact
lookup form, but if the database uses Soundex properly, then I’ll still be in the search-
result list box.For more information concerning Soundex and its history, refer to the following websites:■ (^) http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/coding.html
■ (^) http://www.amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/uscensus.html
■ (^) http://www.bluepoof.com/soundex/
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