Consider this short query

DECLARE @x VARCHAR(20)

SET @x = '1234567890'
SELECT '-' + @x + '-', LEN(@x), RIGHT(@x, LEN(@x) - 2), RIGHT(RTRIM(@x), LEN(@x) - 2)

SET @x = '1234567890 '
SELECT '-' + @x + '-', LEN(@x), RIGHT(@x, LEN(@x) - 2), RIGHT(RTRIM(@x), LEN(@x) - 2)

Executing this short query gives us this result.

---------------------- ----------- -------------------- --------------------
-1234567890-           10          34567890             34567890

(1 row(s) affected)

                                                        
---------------------- ----------- -------------------- --------------------
-1234567890 -          10          4567890              34567890

(1 row(s) affected)

The second value of @x has a space at the end. Do you see what the LEN function returns in both cases? Do you also see the "interesting" side-effect to the RIGHT function when used with LEN?

That caused me a problem this morning. I wanted to share it with you. If you have any comments, please shoot!