>>>>>I would expect the second to win, but it may be not as clear, so at least some testing (even with light load for now) is required from your part.
>>>>>
>>>>>BTW, you don't need RTRIM() for the LEN function as it automatically removes trailing spaces.
>>>>
>>>>Thank you for your suggestions. But the LTRIM() is still necessary with LEN()? otherwise, LEN() will return the size of the column; correct?
>>>>
>>>>As to testing, sorry no time for that. I have to trust yours and Gregory's judgement and go with that. If things don't work, at least I have some smart people I can blame <g>
>>>
>>>Dmitry,
>>>
>>>In SQL Server it's not always 100% simple answer. You can not rely on the forums' answers if you don't do at least a simple test yourself.
>>>
>>>Take a look (even if you don't have time right now) for this yesterday's post by Ted Krugger
>>>
>>>A trigger can do that!
>>>
>>>to see why it's important to do tests.
>>>
>>>BTW, this reminds me - may be I need to write a blog post also to share my recent experience (even if it will be a bit late to participate).
>>>Try
>>>

>>>declare @t table (St char(20))
>>>
>>>insert into @t
>>>values ('  Dmitry'),('Dmitry   '),('Dmitry'), ('Dima')
>>>
>>>select LEN(St) as [Len], St, Datalength(St) as [DtLen],  LEN(LTRIM(St)) as [LtrimLen] from @t
>>>

>>>
>>> to see how LEN function works.
>>
>>Thank you. I copied your code (exactly) into the query window of SQL server but get an error (something near ","). I am sure it is only a typo or I copied incorrectly.
>
>There is an extra comma here.
>
>And yes, I wrote from the top of my head, haven't tested myself (don't have time :))
>
>I corrected the typo in the above.

Thank you. I get your point.