Standardize Text Values With SQL String Functions

• Example
• Why this pattern helps
• Notes

Use this when raw text values need trimming, case normalization, and simple replacement before joining or reporting.

Example

select
    customer_id,
    trim(customer_name) as cleaned_customer_name,
    upper(trim(state_code)) as standardized_state_code,
    replace(lower(email_address), ' ', '') as normalized_email_address,
    length(trim(customer_name)) as cleaned_name_length
from raw.customers;

Why this pattern helps

• reduces preventable mismatches in joins and filters
• keeps cleanup logic close to the consuming model
• turns inconsistent text into reporting-friendly values quickly

Notes

• upstream fixes are more durable for persistent data quality problems
• keep replacement rules small and obvious in SQL models
• move heavier parsing into a dedicated cleaning layer when complexity grows