Most efficient way to convert strings to uniqueidentifier

Question

Hello,

I have semi-guid strings in a format like 'aa0d586c8a495c9400de3796fa8e0cbd' all over my database columns.

What would be the most efficient way to convert such string to uniqueidentifier?

Thank you

Answer 1

You only have to add some minus sign, then you can convert it:

DECLARE @string varchar(40) = 'aa0d586c8a495c9400de3796fa8e0cbdef0';

SELECT CONVERT(uniqueidentifier,
               SUBSTRING(@string, 1, 8) + '-' + 
               SUBSTRING(@string, 9, 4) + '-' + 
               SUBSTRING(@string, 14, 4) + '-' + 
               SUBSTRING(@string, 19, 4) + '-' + 
               SUBSTRING(@string, 24, 12)) AS MyGUID

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Olaf Helper

[ Blog] [ Xing] [ MVP]

Answer 2

Thanks Uri. I was hoping there might be a shorter way of doing this.