Split a type string NUMBER to list of chars - sql

Question

I have a column which has alphanumeric strings like 123x758v961j.
I need to split this alphanumeric number to chars an have blank space between values.
Example: 123x758v961j =====> 1 2 3 x 7 5 8 v 9 6 1 j
I need a function which returns this solution.

Answer 1

Using NGrams8K to split the string into individual characters and then the "classic" FOR XML PATH and STUFF solution to combine the characters back you can do this:
SELECT V.S,
STUFF((SELECT ' ' + NG.token
FROM dbo.NGrams8k(V.S,1) NG
ORDER BY NG.position
FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('.','varchar(100)'),1,1,'') AS S2 --Use a varchar length that is double(-1) then length of your actual data type here
FROM (VALUES('123x758v961j'))V(S);

Answer 2

Just another way
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitToChars(
#String NVARCHAR(300)
)
RETURNS NVARCHAR(300)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #Result NVARCHAR(300) = '';
WITH CTE AS
(
SELECT 1 N
UNION ALL
SELECT N + 1
FROM CTE
WHERE N < LEN(#String)
)
SELECT #Result = CONCAT(#Result, SUBSTRING(#String, N, 1), N' ')
FROM CTE;
RETURN (RTRIM(#Result));
END;
Then just SELECT dbo.SplitToChars(N'123x758v961j')
Returns:
1 2 3 x 7 5 8 v 9 6 1 j
Live Demo

Answer 3

And one more approach ;-)
DECLARE #str VARCHAR(100)='123x758v961j';
WITH Tally(Nmbr) AS
(
SELECT TOP(LEN(#str)) ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM master..spt_values
)
SELECT TRIM(
(
SELECT ' ' + SUBSTRING(#str,Nmbr,1)
FROM Tally
ORDER BY Nmbr
FOR XML PATH('')
)
);
The idea is, to use a tally-on-the-fly (a list of running numbers for each position within #str) to read the characters one-by-one. This derived table is reconcatenated.
And - just for fun - to demonstrate the range of approaches, one more using a quirky update (something to avoid actually ;-) )
WITH Tally(Nmbr) AS
(
SELECT TOP(LEN(#str)) ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM master..spt_values
)
SELECT #str=STUFF(#str,Nmbr,0,' ')
FROM Tally
ORDER BY Nmbr DESC;
SELECT #str;