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N036-M3 Tier 3 · Intermediate · medium ecommerce · Brightlane

Return the result of applying `FORMAT` to the template `'Order %s placed on %s'` with values `'1042'` and `'2024-03-15'`

Part of String Concatenation and Formatting in SQL

The problem

Brightlane's reporting pipeline builds human-readable order summaries from a fixed template.

Write a query to return the result of applying FORMAT to the template 'Order %s placed on %s' with values '1042' and '2024-03-15'.

Output:

  • A single row with one column, order_summary, containing the formatted string.
Schema · ecommerce 5 tables
categories
id integer
name text
parent_id? integer
products
id integer
name text
category_id integer
price numeric
stock_qty integer
attributes? jsonb
order_items
id integer
order_id integer
product_id integer
quantity integer
unit_price numeric
customers
id integer
name text
email text
city? text
country text
created_at timestamptz
is_active boolean
orders
id integer
customer_id integer
ordered_at timestamptz
status text
total_amount numeric
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Solution query
SELECT
  FORMAT('Order %s placed on %s', '1042', '2024-03-15') AS order_summary

The shape

FORMAT('Order %s placed on %s', '1042', '2024-03-15') substitutes each value into its matching %s placeholder in the template, in order, and returns 'Order 1042 placed on 2024-03-15'. The template carries the fixed structure of the summary; the arguments supply the variable parts.

Clause by clause

  • SELECT FORMAT('Order %s placed on %s', '1042', '2024-03-15') AS order_summary evaluates the FORMAT call and labels the resulting column order_summary. The first argument is the template string with two %s placeholders; the next two arguments are the values that fill them. FORMAT walks the template left to right and replaces each %s with the next positional argument, so the first %s receives '1042' and the second receives '2024-03-15'. There is no FROM because everything is supplied directly in the query.

Why this and not 'Order ' || '1042' || ' placed on ' || '2024-03-15'

Both forms return the same string on this input. The FORMAT version puts the fixed structure in one place (the template literal) and the variable values in a list afterward, which is easier to read and easier to change later. The || chain interleaves literal fragments and values in alternation, which scales poorly: with five or six placeholders the chain becomes a wall of quotes and pipes. FORMAT is the right shape whenever the output structure is fixed and only the embedded values vary.

You practiced FORMAT(template, ...) with %s placeholders — the right shape when output structure is fixed and only the embedded values vary.

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