SQL: Validate a quantity given a comma delimited set of ranges - sql

Question

I need to 'validate' a quantity. Given any number x, return true or false if the number is contained in a comma delimited set of ranges and numbers. Example: valid numbers "1,5-10,25-50,100,500", some valid numbers would be 1,5,6,7,8,9,10, but not 11,12,51, etc.

Answer 1

If you convert the string into a temporary table of min and max values, you can easily select the valid values.
Example in T-SQL (MS SQL Server):
declare #valid varchar(50) = '1,5-10,25-50,100,500'
declare #i int, #range varchar(10)
declare #t table(min int, max int)
while len(#valid) > 0 begin
set #i = charindex(',', #valid)
if #i = 0 begin
set #range = #valid
set #valid = ''
end else begin
set #range = left(#valid, #i - 1)
set #valid = right(#valid, len(#valid) - #i)
end
set #i = charindex('-', #range)
if #i = 0 begin
insert into #t (min, max) values (cast(#range as int), cast(#range as int))
end else begin
insert into #t (min, max) values (cast(left(#range, #i - 1) as int), cast(right(#range, len(#range) - #i) as int))
end
end
select
n
from
(values(1),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9),(10),(11),(12),(51)) as x (n)
inner join #t on n between min and max

Answer 2

Check this (SQL Server 2008)
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[RunningNumbers](#anzahl INT=1000000, #StartAt INT=0)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
WITH E1(N) AS(SELECT 1 FROM(VALUES (1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1))t(N)), --10 ^ 1
E2(N) AS(SELECT 1 FROM E1 a CROSS JOIN E1 b), -- 10 ^ 2 = 100 rows
E4(N) AS(SELECT 1 FROM E2 a CROSS JOIN E2 b), -- 10 ^ 4 = 10,000 rows
E8(N) AS(SELECT 1 FROM E4 a CROSS JOIN E4 b), -- 10 ^ 8 = 10,000,000 rows
CteTally AS
(
SELECT TOP(ISNULL(#anzahl,1000000)) ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY(SELECT NULL)) -1 + ISNULL(#StartAt,0) As Nmbr
FROM E8
)
SELECT * FROM CteTally;
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.CheckRange
(
#ValidTarget INT
,#rangeList VARCHAR(MAX)
)
RETURNS BIT
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #rangeParts XML=CAST('<root><r>'+REPLACE(#rangeList,',','</r><r>') + '</r></root>' AS XML);
DECLARE #Count INT;
SELECT #Count= COUNT(*)
FROM
(
SELECT Valid.X
FROM #rangeParts.nodes('/root/r') AS rp(p)
CROSS APPLY
(
SELECT CASE WHEN CHARINDEX('-',p.value('.','varchar(max)'))>0
THEN CAST('<root><r>'+REPLACE(p.value('.','varchar(max)'),'-','</r><r>') + '</r></root>' AS XML)
ELSE '<root><r>' + p.value('.','varchar(max)') + '</r><r>' + p.value('.','varchar(max)') + '</r></root>' END AS pr
) AS partsResolved
CROSS APPLY
(
SELECT CASE WHEN #ValidTarget BETWEEN partsResolved.pr.value('(/root/r)[1]','int') AND partsResolved.pr.value('(/root/r)[2]','int') THEN 1 ELSE 0 END AS X
) AS Valid
) AS tbl
WHERE tbl.X=1
RETURN #Count;
END
GO
SELECT Nmbr,dbo.CheckRange(Nmbr,'1,5-10,25-50,100,500')
FROM dbo.RunningNumbers(70,-3)
DROP FUNCTION dbo.RunningNumbers;
GO
DROP FUNCTION dbo.CheckRange;