Split comma separated value from table column into rows using mssql? - sql

Question

I would like to get some data into mssql view by splitting their sources. I have some columns where phone numbers are stored as comma separated values (each contains a phone contact). I neet to work with each "phone contact", so I would like to see them in rows each one. And also each row has to contain an order of the contact from the splitting.
Source:
Department | SaleMngrs | Operators | Secretary
----------------------------------------------------------
'Technics' | '123,456,77'| '+122,Line 1' | '77889,112'
'Development'| '123,3366' | null | 'Lines 7-8'
As you can see, the comma separated values are a total mess, but the spliter is , (comma).
Wanted result:
Department | TypeOfContact | Contact | ContactOrder
------------------------------------------------------
'Technics' | 'SalesManagers'| '123' | 1
'Technics' | 'SalesManagers'| '456' | 2
'Technics' | 'SalesManagers'| '77' | 3
'Technics' | 'Operators' | '+122' | 1
'Technics' | 'Operators' | 'Line 1' | 2
'Technics' | 'Secretary' | '77889' | 1
'Technics' | 'Secretary' | '112' | 2
'Development'| 'SalesManagers'| '123' | 1
'Development'| 'SalesManagers'| '3366' | 2
'Development'| 'Secretary' | 'Lines 7-8'| 1
No UDF or SP wanted. Just a SELECT please.

Answer 1

Please try the following (it is as pretty as the data structure) - optimized with UNPIVOT:
set nocount on
declare #source table (Department varchar(50), SaleMngrs varchar(50), Operators varchar(50), Secretary varchar(50));
insert into #source values ('Technics' , '123,456,77', '+122,Line 1' , '77889,112');
insert into #source values ('Development', '123,3366' , null , 'Lines 7-8');
;WITH cte (Department, TypeOfContact, Contact)
AS
(
SELECT Department, TypeOfContact, cast('<Contact><c>' + replace(Contact,',','</c><c>') + '</c></Contact>' as xml) AS Contact
FROM (SELECT Department, SaleMngrs AS SalesManagers, Operators, Secretary FROM #source) p
UNPIVOT (Contact FOR TypeOfContact IN (SalesManagers, Operators, Secretary)) AS unpvt
)
Select Department
, TypeOfContact
, Contact.c.value('.','varchar(20)') AS Contact
, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY Department, TypeOfContact ORDER BY Department, TypeOfContact) AS ContactOrder
FROM cte CROSS APPLY Contact.nodes('/Contact/c') as Contact(c);
OUTPUT
Department TypeOfContact Contact ContactOrder
------------ ------------- -------------------- --------------------
Development SalesManagers 123 1
Development SalesManagers 3366 2
Development Secretary Lines 7-8 1
Technics Operators +122 1
Technics Operators Line 1 2
Technics SalesManagers 123 1
Technics SalesManagers 456 2
Technics SalesManagers 77 3
Technics Secretary 112 1
Technics Secretary 77889 2
EDIT: Optimized query using UNPIVOT (original below):
set nocount on
declare #source table (Department varchar(50), SaleMngrs varchar(50), Operators varchar(50), Secretary varchar(50));
insert into #source values ('Technics' , '123,456,77', '+122,Line 1' , '77889,112');
insert into #source values ('Development', '123,3366' , null , 'Lines 7-8');
;WITH cte (Department, SalesMngrs, Operators, Secretary)
AS
(
select Department
, cast('<SaleMngrs><c>' + replace(SaleMngrs,',','</c><c>') + '</c></SaleMngrs>' as xml) AS SalesMngrs
, cast('<Operators><c>' + replace(Operators,',','</c><c>') + '</c></Operators>' as xml) AS Operators
, cast('<Secretary><c>' + replace(Secretary,',','</c><c>') + '</c></Secretary>' as xml) AS Secretary
from #source
)
Select Department
, TypeOfContact
, Contact
, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY Department, TypeOfContact ORDER BY Department, TypeOfContact) AS ContactOrder
FROM (
Select Department, 'SalesManagers' AS TypeOfContact, SaleMngrs.c.value('.','varchar(20)') as Contact
from cte CROSS APPLY SalesMngrs.nodes('/SaleMngrs/c') as SaleMngrs(c)
union
Select Department, 'Operators', Operators.c.value('.','varchar(20)')
from cte CROSS APPLY Operators.nodes('/Operators/c') as Operators(c)
union
Select Department, 'Secretary', Secretary.c.value('.','varchar(20)')
from cte CROSS APPLY Secretary.nodes('/Secretary/c') as Secretary(c)
) AS q;

Answer 2

Martin,
I know you wanted this in one SQL Statement, but if you create a Function then the SQL won't be so unpretty.
ALTER FUNCTION dbo.Split ( #InputString VARCHAR(8000), #Delimiter VARCHAR(50))
RETURNS #Items TABLE ( Item VARCHAR(8000), Rowid INT)
AS
BEGIN
IF #Delimiter = ' '
BEGIN
SET #Delimiter = ','
SET #InputString = REPLACE(#InputString, ' ', #Delimiter)
END
IF (#Delimiter IS NULL OR #Delimiter = '')
SET #Delimiter = ','
DECLARE #Item VARCHAR(8000)
DECLARE #ItemList VARCHAR(8000)
DECLARE #DelimIndex INT
declare #rowseq INT
SET #rowseq = 0
SET #ItemList = #InputString
SET #DelimIndex = CHARINDEX(#Delimiter, #ItemList, 0)
WHILE (#DelimIndex != 0)
BEGIN
SET #Item = SUBSTRING(#ItemList, 0, #DelimIndex)
SET #rowseq = #rowseq + 1
INSERT INTO #Items VALUES (#Item, #rowseq)
-- Set #ItemList = #ItemList minus one less item
SET #ItemList = SUBSTRING(#ItemList, #DelimIndex+1, LEN(#ItemList)-#DelimIndex)
SET #DelimIndex = CHARINDEX(#Delimiter, #ItemList, 0)
END -- End WHILE
IF #Item IS NOT NULL -- At least one delimiter was encountered in #InputString
BEGIN
SET #Item = #ItemList
SET #rowseq = #rowseq + 1
INSERT INTO #Items VALUES (#Item, #rowseq)
END
-- No delimiters were encountered in #InputString, so just return #InputString
ELSE INSERT INTO #Items VALUES (#InputString, 1)
RETURN
END
The above Function I found from this SO question, but i made some changes to it for your scenario. How to split a comma-separated value to rows
Then you SQL will be...
SELECT department, 'SalesManager' as TypeOfContract, s.Item as Contact , s.rowId
FROM <YOUR TABLE> t
CROSS APPLY
(SELECT * FROM dbo.Split(t.SalesMngrs, ',') where item is not null) S
UNION ALL
SELECT department, 'Operators' as TypeOfContract, s.Item as Contact , s.rowId
FROM <YOUR TABLE> t
CROSS APPLY
(SELECT * FROM dbo.Split(t.Operators, ',') where item is not null ) S
UNION ALL
SELECT department, 'Secretary' as TypeOfContract, s.Item as Contact , s.rowId
FROM <YOUR TABLE> t
CROSS APPLY
(SELECT * FROM dbo.Split(t.Secretary, ',') where item is not null) S
I hope this helps.