adding leading zeros in select

Hi all,

I'm trying to select a bigint field and format it with leading zeros. I've tried the convert function but it does not seem to support this basic feature. There is no reference in the document on CONVERT or CAST, it only refers to formatting dates.

example:
table contents
123
456
789

desired select result:
000123
000456
000789

Who has a solution for this problem?select
replicate('0', 6-datalength(convert(varchar,NumericField)))
from MyTable

Or, better:

create function LZero(@.MyNum int, @.MyLength int)
returns varchar
as
begin
declare @.MyStr varchar
set @.MyStr = convert(varchar,@.MyNum)
if @.MyLength>datalength(@.MyStr)
set @.MyStr = replicate('0',(@.MyLength-datalength(@.MyStr)))+@.MyStr
return @.MyStr
end
go
select dbo.LZero(NumericField,6) from MyTable|||Thanx for your reply.

The first solution you offer works fine and suits my needs. I can't get the second to work properly however. The query only returns '0' for every row.

But this will get me where I want. Thank you very much|||Ok.
I have no SQL Server near me to debug it, so go for the 1st option.|||Originally posted by kukuk
Ok.
I have no SQL Server near me to debug it, so go for the 1st option.

OK, I will, thanx again|||the reason you only get '0' is that no length for the returning varchar is specified. Change it e.g. to varchar(50) and you will get a correct result.|||Originally posted by jora
the reason you only get '0' is that no length for the returning varchar is specified. Change it e.g. to varchar(50) and you will get a correct result.

Thanx for your reply, I already found it out and fixed it.