SQL SUM of a ntext field using LEN

Question

I want to count the number of characters in a ntext column and then get the SUM For example I have the following query:

SELECT LEN(field1) AS Length, field1 
FROM table

It will return results like:

|Length|field1|
-------------------
  4     abcd
  6     abcdef
  4     abcd

I now want to get the SUM of the Length field. Using MS SQL 2008.

Answer 1

The simpliest solution would be, (without using a subquery or any other that could decrease the performance)

SELECT SUM(LEN(field1)) AS totalLength
FROM table

Answer 2

try this:

Since you are using sql server 2008 , you could use common table expression(CTE):

;with cte as(
     SELECT LEN(field1) AS Length, field1 
     FROM table)
select sum(Length) as sumOfLenght from CTE

Answer 3

You can first find Length and then sum of that length...

SELECT SUM(LEN(field1)) FROM table