A string of quarterly dates between a start and end date - sql

Question

I've got a recursive cte working to generate a list of dates between #startDate and #endDate, incrementing by quarters.
declare #startDate datetime
declare #endDate datetime
set #startDate= '01-jan-2014'
set #endDate= '01-jul-2017'
;With cte
As
( Select #startDate date1
Union All
Select DateAdd(Month,3,date1) From cte where date1 < #endDate
) select cast(cast( Year(date1)*10000 + MONTH(date1)*100 + 1 as
varchar(255)) as date) quarterlyDates From cte
This yields:
quarterlyDates
--------------
2014-01-01
2014-04-01
2014-07-01
2014-10-01 ...
I'd like to concatenate the output of the cte into a single string as follows:
"'01-jan-2014', '01-apr-2014, '01-jul-2014'..."
etc. I'm baffled by this last step - any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Not sure why you want to... but just wrap that bottom cte and use stuff.
declare #table table(quarterlyDates date)
insert into #table
values
('2014-01-01'),
('2014-04-01'),
('2014-07-01'),
('2014-10-01')
SELECT stuff((
SELECT ', ' + cast(quarterlyDates as varchar(max))
FROM #table
FOR XML PATH('')
), 1, 2, '')
And in your code... though the second CTE isn't necessary I leave it for clarity.
declare #startDate datetime
declare #endDate datetime
set #startDate= '01-jan-2014'
set #endDate= '01-jul-2017'
;With cte
As
( Select #startDate date1
Union All
Select DateAdd(Month,3,date1) From cte where date1 < #endDate
),
cte2 as(
select cast(cast( Year(date1)*10000 + MONTH(date1)*100 + 1 as
varchar(255)) as date) quarterlyDates From cte)
SELECT stuff((
SELECT ', ' + cast(quarterlyDates as varchar(max))
FROM cte2
FOR XML PATH('')
), 1, 2, '');

Answer 2

use FOR XML Path with type directive to avoid encoding of illegal characters in result
;WITH cte
AS (SELECT #startDate date1
UNION ALL
SELECT Dateadd(month, 3, date1)
FROM cte
WHERE date1 < #endDate)
SELECT Stuff((SELECT ',' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(15), date1, 106) quarterlyDates
FROM cte
FOR xml path, type).value('.[1]', 'nvarchar(max)'), 1, 1, '');
Note : I have altered the unwanted manipulating in the final select. Use style 106 in Convert function to get the required output format

Answer 3

Late answer and just for fun.
Example
declare #startDate datetime = '01-jan-2014'
declare #endDate datetime = '01-jul-2017'
;With cte
As
( Select date1 = #startDate
,dates = ''''+convert(varchar(max),convert(varchar(11),#startDate,113))+''''
Union All
Select DateAdd(Month,3,date1)
,cte.dates+','''+convert(varchar(11),DateAdd(Month,3,date1) ,106)+''''
From cte where date1 < #endDate
)
Select Top 1 with ties
Dates=lower(replace(Dates,' ','-') )
From cte
Order By Date1 Desc
Returns
'01-jan-2014','01-apr-2014','01-jul-2014','01-oct-2014','01-jan-2015','01-apr-2015','01-jul-2015','01-oct-2015','01-jan-2016','01-apr-2016','01-jul-2016','01-oct-2016','01-jan-2017','01-apr-2017','01-jul-2017'