How to port LTRIM from Oracle to SQL Server?
Yeehaw.

DECLARE @MyTable TABLE ( MyColumn VARCHAR(100) );

INSERT @MyTable ( MyColumn )
    VALUES ( '-----, ,,, This is ,- a test,---,' );

SELECT *, 
        SUBSTRING(mt.MyColumn, ca.p, LEN(mt.MyColumn))
FROM @MyTable AS mt
CROSS APPLY ( SELECT * 
              FROM (VALUES (PATINDEX ('%[^ ,-]%', MyColumn))
            ) AS x (p) ) AS ca;