Segregate column values in SQL Server - sql

Question

I have a table with 2 columns (Col1 & Col2) and values are stores like below:
Col1 Col2
A/B/C Red/Orange/Green
D/E Red/Orange
I want the output like below.
Col1 Col2
A Red
B Orange
C Green
D Red
E Orange

Answer 1

Did you try CROSS APPLY? Please replace 'your_table_name' with the name of your table. It should work, just copy and paste.
SELECT Col1, value AS Col2 INTO Table_2
FROM your_table_name
CROSS APPLY STRING_SPLIT(Col2, '/');
SELECT Col2, value AS Col1 INTO Table_3
FROM Table_2
CROSS APPLY STRING_SPLIT(Col1, '/');
SELECT * FROM Table_3;

Answer 2

Not easy, but doable.
I would do it by "flattening" the table:
SELECT (left bit of column 1), (left bit of column2)
UNION ALL
SELECT (middle bit of column 1), (middle bit of column 2)
where [column 1] like '%/%'
UNION ALL
SELECT (last bit of column 1), (last bit of column 2)
where [column 1] like '%/%/%'
If you have the possibility of more slashes and data, you need to add further UNIONs.
Use CHARINDEX to find the slash and SUBSTRING to extract the bits.

Answer 3

Maybe String split can help?
https://learn.microsoft.com/it-it/sql/t-sql/functions/string-split-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver15
look at the example D and E

Answer 4

Unfortunately, the built-in string split function in SQL Server does NOT return the position in the string. In my opinion, this is a significant oversight.
Assuming your strings have no duplicate values, you can use row_number() and charindex() to add an enumeration:
select t.*, ss.*
from t cross apply
(select s1.value as value1, s2.value as value2
from (select s1.value,
row_number() over (order by charindex('/' + s1.value + '/', '/' + t.col1 + '/')) as pos
from string_split(t.col1, '/') s1
) s1 join
(select s2.value,
row_number() over (order by charindex('/' + s2.value + '/', '/' + t.col2 + '/')) as pos
from string_split(t.col2, '/') s2
) s2
on s1.pos = s2.pos
) ss;
Here is a db<>fiddle.