SQL server varchar.toArray() or string.toArray() method - sql

Question

I want to convert my string data to array in sql server.
I tried it like below.
SELECT '223456789' AS SerialOriginalCode
-- SerialOriginalCode 223456789
DECLARE #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion TABLE(ID INT, SerialOriginalCode INT);
INSERT INTO #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion VALUES
(1, 2),
(2, 2),
(3, 3),
(4, 4),
(5, 5),
(6, 6),
(7, 7),
(8, 8),
(9, 9);
SELECT * FROM #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion
But it is manual way, it is not the way of programmatic convertion as it needs me to key in every insert value for each line.
Could someone please suggest me more elegent way?

Answer 1

DECLARE #InputText AS VARCHAR(MAX) = '223456789'
DECLARE #Pos Int = 1
DECLARE #End Int
DECLARE #TextLength Int = DATALENGTH(#InputText)
DECLARE #Array TABLE
(
TokenID Int PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY(1,1),
Match Varchar(MAX)
)
-- Exit function if no text is passed in.
IF #TextLength <> 0
BEGIN
WHILE #Pos <= #TextLength BEGIN
INSERT #Array (Match) VALUES (SUBSTRING(#InputText,#Pos,1))
SET #Pos = #Pos + 1
END
END
SELECT * FROM #Array

Answer 2

Try this INSERT using number from master..spt_values
SELECT '223456789' AS SerialOriginalCode
-- SerialOriginalCode 223456789
DECLARE #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion TABLE(ID INT, SerialOriginalCode INT);
INSERT INTO #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion
SELECT number + 1, SUBSTRING(t.SerialOriginalCode, sv.number + 1, 1)
FROM (SELECT '223456789' AS SerialOriginalCode) t
INNER JOIN master..spt_values sv ON sv.number < LEN(t.SerialOriginalCode)
WHERE sv.[type] = 'P'
SELECT * FROM #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion
Output:
ID SerialOriginalCode
1 2
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9

Answer 3

I would recommend that you do this in your application. SQL is optimised for Set based operations and does not handle recursive procedural tasks like like these.
If you want to do this in SQL, you can find the LEN of your string and then recursively find the next character. Something like this
Query
DECLARE #SerialOriginalCode VARCHAR(20) = '223456789'
DECLARE #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion TABLE(ID INT, SerialOriginalCode INT);
DECLARE #len INT = LEN(#SerialOriginalCode)
;WITH CTE as
(
SELECT 1 as ID,CONVERT(INT,SUBSTRING(#SerialOriginalCode,1,1)) as CharInt
UNION ALL
SELECT ID + 1,CONVERT(INT,SUBSTRING(#SerialOriginalCode,ID + 1,1))
FROM CTE WHERE LEN(#SerialOriginalCode) >= ID + 1
)
INSERT INTO #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion(ID,SerialOriginalCode)
SELECT * FROM CTE;
SELECT * FROM #tbl_SerialOriginalVerion
Output
ID SerialOriginalCode
1 2
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9

Answer 4

With cte and Apply:
Declare #s nvarchar(9) = '223456789'
;with cte as(
select n from (values(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) as t(n))
select * from cte
cross apply(select substring(#s, cte.n, 1) as c) ca
Output:
n c
1 2
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9
Or you can do it with tally tables:
declare #s varchar(100) = '223456789'
;with t as(select row_number() over(order by (select null)) rn from
(values(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1)) t1(n) cross join
(values(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1),(1)) t2(n))
select substring(#s, rn, 1) from t
where rn <= len(#s)
Fiddle http://sqlfiddle.com/#!3/9eecb7db59d16c80417c72d1/570