The LTRIM string function returns a character expression after it removes the leading blanks or spaces. The syntax of the LTRIM string function is as follows:
LTRIM ( < character_expression > )
The < character_expression > is an expression of character or binary data and can be a constant, variable or column. The < character_expression > must be of data type, except TEXT, NTEXT and IMAGE, that is implicitly convertible to VARCHAR. Otherwise, the CAST function must be used to explicitly convert the < character_expression >
Usage #1 : Remove or Trim Leading Zeros in a String
DECLARE @Input VARCHAR(20)
SET @Input = '00001240-01010'
SELECT REPLACE(LTRIM(REPLACE(@Input, '0', ' ')), ' ', '0') AS [Output]
Output
-----------
1240-01010
Usage #2 : Remove or Trim Trailing Spaces Without Using RTRIM
DECLARE @Input VARCHAR(100)
SET @Input = 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. '
SELECT REVERSE(LTRIM(REVERSE(@Input))) AS [Output]
Output
-----------
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Usage #3 : Determine the Position of the First Non-Space Character
DECLARE @Input VARCHAR(100)
SET @Input = ' SQL Server Helper'
SELECT LEN(@Input) - LEN(LTRIM(@Input)) + 1 AS [Location]
Location
-----------
7