Reading SQL Server’s IMAGE Data Type

For the “something I always forget and have to search for” bucket: if you have an IMAGE data type in a table, and you want a quick-n-nasty way to read the contents, AND if it’s not more than 8000 characters:

select cast(cast(fieldName as varbinary(8000)) as varchar(8000))
FROM tablename

Told you it was quick, and told you it was nasty