SQL Server printf

Question

Is there a printf-like function in Sql Server? I want the same features as the RAISERROR function, but instead of throwing an error, or printing a message, I want to write it in a varchar, because my ERP won't let me handle the error messages.

This is SQL Server 2000.

Actual working example with RAISERROR:

declare @name varchar(10)
set @name = 'George'

RAISERROR ('Hello %s.', 10, 1, 'George')

prints Hello George

What I'm looking for:

declare @name varchar(10), @message varchar(50)
set @name = 'George'

SET @message = printf('Hello %s.', 'George')
return @message

This would return Hello George

Answer 1

PRINT is just RAISERROR with a severity of 0. So you can use.

declare @name varchar(10)
set @name = 'George'

RAISERROR ('Hello %s.', 0, 1, 'George') WITH NOWAIT

Edit to store it into a variable you can use the xp_sprintf extended stored procedure.

declare @name varchar(10)
set @name = 'George'

DECLARE @ret varchar(500)
exec master..xp_sprintf @ret OUTPUT, 'Hello %s.', @name
PRINT @ret