How can I write this SQL statement when the string value is a variable

Hi. I was wondering how I might be able to write the following SQL statement | SET @.AlertSymbol = N'MSFT' | when I want to replace the MSFT with the variable @.StockSymbol?

I'd like to do something like | SET @.AlertSymbol = N'@.StockSymbol' | but that doesn't seem to work as SQL isn't evaluating @.StockSymbol but rather treating it as a string.

All of the following return errors:

SET @.AlertSymbol = N@.StockSymbol
SET @.AlertSymbol = N+@.StockSymbol
SET @.AlertSymbol = N&@.StockSymbol

Thanks, MattJust declare @.StockSymbol as nchar or nvarchar and you can simply use

SET @.AlertSymbol = @.StockSymbol

The N in N'foo' tells SQL Server that 'foo' is in unicode. The same applies to all n<bar> datatypes.|||Originally posted by mt404
Hi. I was wondering how I might be able to write the following SQL statement | SET @.AlertSymbol = N'MSFT' | when I want to replace the MSFT with the variable @.StockSymbol?

I'd like to do something like | SET @.AlertSymbol = N'@.StockSymbol' | but that doesn't seem to work as SQL isn't evaluating @.StockSymbol but rather treating it as a string.

All of the following return errors:

SET @.AlertSymbol = N@.StockSymbol
SET @.AlertSymbol = N+@.StockSymbol
SET @.AlertSymbol = N&@.StockSymbol

Thanks, Matt

Nchar/varchar has higher precedence than char/varchar. Hence, an implicit conversion should take care of this for you.

e.g.

declare @.AlertSymbol nvarchar(10),
@.StockSymbol varchar(10)

set @.StockSymbol='MSFT'

set @.AlertSymbol=@.StockSymbol

--sql2k
select sql_variant_property(@.AlertSymbol,'BaseType'), @.AlertSymbol|||Thaks to both of you for helping me out and teaching me what the N'foo' actually meant.