SQL Server 2008 Express CONCAT() doesn't exist?

Question

I'm making switch from MySQL to SQL Server 2008 Express and can't seem to find a CONCAT()-esque function. I have two columns I'm trying to combine into a string and find unique combinations.

id1          id2
001          abc1
002          qrs5
003          qrs5
003          abc1
...           ...

When I try the following:

  select id1, id2, concat(id1,  ", ", id2) as combo1
  FROM db1
  group by combo1

I get the following error message:

Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1
'concat' is not a recognized built-in function name.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Maybe something like,

SELECT DISTINCT id1, id2, id1 + ', ' + id2

would that work?

Answer 2

You can use CONCAT in SQL 2008 (if you REALLY want) by wrapping in brackets

{fn CONCAT(id1,id2)} AS combo1

NOTE: CONCAT only takes two arguments, so you must nest them if you wish to concatenate more than two strings:

{fn CONCAT(id1,{fn CONCAT(id2,id3)})} AS combo2