Right Align text in SQL Server

We all know T-SQL's string manipulation capabilities sometimes leaves much to be desired...

I have a numeric field that needs to be output in T-SQL as a right-aligned text column. Example:

Value
----------
   143.55
  3532.13
     1.75

How would you go about that? A good solution ought to be clear and compact, but remember there is such a thing as "too clever".

I agree this is the wrong place to do this, but sometimes we're stuck by forces outside our control.

Thank you.

From stackoverflow Euro Micelli

• The STR function has an optional length argument as well as a number-of-decimals one.

  SELECT STR(123.45, 6, 1)
  
  ------
   123.5
  
  (1 row(s) affected)
  

  Euro Micelli : Bravo! How did I miss this? Do note that STR() takes a float, not a decimal. SQLServer Help is very explicit about it ("... an expression of approximate numeric (float) data type"): if your decimals have enough digits, rounding will cause you trouble. This is still a great answer for most
  From d91-jal

• If you MUST do this in SQL you can use the folowing code (This code assumes that you have no numerics that are bigger than 40 chars):

  SELECT REPLICATE(' ', 40 - LEN(CAST(numColumn as varchar(40)))) + 
  CAST(numColumn AS varchar(40)) FROM YourTable
  

  From Espo

• The easiest way is to pad left:

  CREATE FUNCTION PadLeft(@PadString nvarchar(100), @PadLength int)
  RETURNS nvarchar(200)
  AS
  begin
  return  replicate(' ',@padlength-len(@PadString)) + @PadString
  end
  go
  print dbo.PadLeft('123.456', 20)
  print dbo.PadLeft('1.23', 20)
  

  From Josef