How to type a new line character in SQL Server Management Studio

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1014447

Question

In the "datagrid" view of an open table of data, how can I type a new line character into an nvarchar field directly in SSMS?

Is there an alt code?

Was it helpful?

Solution

You can't.

Use a "new query" window instead, and do a manual update:

UPDATE mytable
SET textvalue = 
'This text
can include
line breaks'
WHERE rowid = 1234

OTHER TIPS

You can paste the lines in from a text editor that uses UNIX-style line endings (CR+LF). I use Notepad++. First go to Settings/Preferences/New Document and change the format from Windows to Unix. Then open a new document, type in your lines, and copy them into SSMS.

either char(13) or char(10) would work. but it is recommended to use char(13) + char(10)

  • char(10) = \n - new line
  • char(13) = \r - go to the beginning of the line

You can prepare the text in notepad, and paste it into SSMS. SSMS will not display the newlines, but they are there, as you can verify with a select:

select *
from YourTable
where Col1 like '%' + char(10) + '%'

I had trouble initially (don't know why) but I finally got the following to work with SSMS for SQL Server 2008.

Insert ALT-13 then ALT-10 where desired in your text in a varchar type column (music symbol and square appear and save when you leave the row). Initially you'll get a warning(!) to the left of the row after leaving it. Just re-excecute your SELECT statement. The symbols and warning will disappear but the CR/LF is saved. You must include ALT-13 if you want the text displayed properly in HTML. To quickly determine if this worked, copy the saved text from SSMS to Notepad.

Alternatively, if you can't get this to work, you can do the same thing starting with an nvarchar column. However the symbols will be saved as text so you must convert the column to varchar when you're done to convert the symbols to CR/LFs.

If you want to copy & paste text from another source (another row or table, HTML, Notepad, etc.) and not have your text truncated at the first CR, I found that the solution (Programmer's Notepad) referred to at the following link works with SSMS for SQL Server 2008 using varchar & nvarchar column types.

http://dbaspot.com/sqlserver-programming/409451-how-i-enter-linefeed-when-modifying-text-field-2.html#post1523145

The author of the post (dbaspot) mentions something about creating SQL queries - not sure what he means. Just follow the intructions about Programmer's Notepad and you can copy & paste text to and from SSMS and retain the LFs both ways (using Programmer's Notepad, not Notepad). To have the text display properly in HTML you must add CRs to the text copied to SSMS. The best way to do this is by executing an UPDATE statement using the REPLACE function to add CRs as follows:

UPDATE table_name
SET column_name = REPLACE(column_name , CHAR(10), CHAR(13) + CHAR(10)).

I use INSERT 'a' + Char(10) + 'b' INTO wherever WHERE whatever

Ronnie,

The data grid appears to be swallowing any attempts to paste a newline character, including the use of ALT+010. Microsoft does not list any shortcut keys that would help. The usual suspects 

<ctrl>enter, 
<alt> enter, 
<ctrl><alt> enter, 
<shift> enter, etc

don't work, as you pointed out.

For the record, if you are doing web development, the linefeeds will not show up in the browser anyway (they are interpreted as extra whitespace, and are ignored). I had to replace line feed with

<br>

everywhere I wanted a line break to show up in the browser (text areas will accept line feeds as usable input).

Even if you could insert a line break, I don't think the data grid view in SSMS is capable of displaying it.

Try using MS Access instead. Create a new file and select 'Project using existing data' template. This will create .adp file.

Then simply open your table and press Ctrl+Enter for new line.

Pasting from clipboard also works correctly.

This is possible if you have an existing Newline character in the row or another row.

Select the square-box that represents the existing Newline character, copy it (control-C), and then paste it (control-V) where you want it to be.

This is slightly cheesy, but I actually did get it to work in SSMS 2008 and I was not able to get any of the other suggestions (control-enter, alt-13, or any alt-##) to work.

this works for me (View results as text -- results as grid hides the newlines)

select '

a 

b

'

You're talking about right-clicking on a table and selecting "Edit Top 50 Rows", right?

I tried [Ctl][Enter] and [Alt][Enter], but neither of those works.

Even when I insert data with CR/LF (using a standard INSERT statement), it shows up here in a single line with a rectangle representing the control codes.

If you are trying to enter data directly into the table in grid view (presumably Right Click TableName and Select Open Table), then you can enter your unicode text string and wherever you want a carriage return just type 13 with the alt key pressed in the numeric keypad.

That would be Alt+13. This works only from the numeric keypad and does not work with the number keys on the top of the keyboard. The carriage return will be stored as a square

I find the easy way to do it for non-repeatable updates is to use MS Access and create a linked table, then update the data as you need. I guess the MS Access team doesn't talk to the SMSS team :)

I tried entering a new line character using an excel Sheet. I entered my data by writing "abc" below a blank cell in Excel and then updated my db using the empty cell above the cell containing "abc" and the cell with data. I copy pasted both the cells in my SSMS. It worked for me

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