The output string seems to be limited to 255 characters

for example: DECLARE @template varchar(300) = '%saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaab' DECLARE @format varchar(300) EXEC xp_sprintf @format OUTPUT,@template,'hello' SELECT @format@format will only contain the first 255 characters!This is something worth mentioning on the d