Recently trying to debug some really cryptic T-SQL scripts.

Guess what this is trying to do?

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DECLARE @dt varchar(6)
SET @dt = RIGHT(CONVERT(varchar(4), YEAR(getdate())),2) + REPLICATE('0', 2 - LEN(CONVERT(varchar(2), MONTH(getdate())))) + CONVERT(varchar(2), MONTH(getdate())) + REPLICATE('0', 2 - LEN(CONVERT(varchar(2), DAY(getdate())))) + CONVERT(varchar(2), DAY(getdate()))

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Answer:

It’s trying to print the current date in YYMMDD format.

Uhm, there’s a much better way to do this.

Try CONVERT.

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SET @dt =  CONVERT(VARCHAR(6), GETDATE(), 12)

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I still quite enjoy debugging or refactoring T-SQL scripts, but sometimes I’m just amazed at what I still see …