Generating large strings for test data

Question

I was recently trying to create some large strings containing generic test data for a question here. It seems that I used to know of a way to multiply a string. However, I can no longer remember the syntax.

I'm looking for something like:

SELECT 'A' + ('a' * 1000) + 'ha!'

To come up with "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaha!" (Well, much longer, of course.)

Is this possible in T-SQL? (Or am I thinking of some other language?) Also, are there any other techniques to generate large strings?

Answer 1

You can use REPLICATE:

SELECT 'A' + REPLICATE('a', 1000) + 'ha!';