SQL - SUBSTRING and CHARINDEX [duplicate] - sql

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Closed 10 years ago.
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T-SQL: Opposite to string concatenation - how to split string into multiple records
Splitting variable length delimited string across multiple rows (SQL)
I have a database table that contains column data like this:
Data (field name)
1111,44,666,77
22,55,76,54
32,31,56
I realise this is a very poor design because it is not normalised (I didn't design it - I inherited it). Is there a query that will return the data like this:
1111
44
666
77
22
55
76
54
32
31
56
I am use to using CHARINDEX and SUBSTRING, but I cannot think of a way of doing this as the number of elements in each cell (delimited by a comma) is unknown.

Answer 1

You can use CTE to split the data:
;with cte (DataItem, Data) as
(
select cast(left(Data, charindex(',',Data+',')-1) as varchar(50)) DataItem,
stuff(Data, 1, charindex(',',Data+','), '') Data
from yourtable
union all
select cast(left(Data, charindex(',',Data+',')-1) as varchar(50)) DataItem,
stuff(Data, 1, charindex(',',Data+','), '') Data
from cte
where Data > ''
)
select DataItem
from cte
See SQL Fiddle with Demo
Result:
| DATAITEM |
------------
| 1111 |
| 22 |
| 32 |
| 31 |
| 56 |
| 55 |
| 76 |
| 54 |
| 44 |
| 666 |
| 77 |
Or you can create a split function:
create FUNCTION [dbo].[Split](#String varchar(MAX), #Delimiter char(1))
returns #temptable TABLE (items varchar(MAX))
as
begin
declare #idx int
declare #slice varchar(8000)
select #idx = 1
if len(#String)<1 or #String is null return
while #idx!= 0
begin
set #idx = charindex(#Delimiter,#String)
if #idx!=0
set #slice = left(#String,#idx - 1)
else
set #slice = #String
if(len(#slice)>0)
insert into #temptable(Items) values(#slice)
set #String = right(#String,len(#String) - #idx)
if len(#String) = 0 break
end
return
end;
Which you can use when you query and this will produce the same result:
select s.items declaration
from yourtable t1
outer apply dbo.split(t1.data, ',') s

Answer 2

I created a table called [dbo].[stack] and filled it with the data you provided and this script produced what you needed. There may be a more efficient way of doing this but this works exactly how you requested.
BEGIN
DECLARE #tmp TABLE (data VARCHAR(20))
DECLARE #tmp2 TABLE (data VARCHAR(20))
--Insert all fields from your table
INSERT INTO #tmp (data)
SELECT [data]
FROM [dbo].[stack] -- your table name here
--Loop through all the records in temp table
WHILE EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM #tmp)
BEGIN
DECLARE #data VARCHAR(100) --Variable to chop up
DECLARE #data1 VARCHAR(100) -- Untouched variable to delete from tmp table
SET #data = (SELECT TOP 1 [data]
FROM #tmp)
SET #data1 = (SELECT TOP 1 [data]
FROM #tmp)
--Loop through variable to get individual value
WHILE PATINDEX('%,%',#data) > 0
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #tmp2
SELECT SUBSTRING(#data,1,PATINDEX('%,%',#data)-1);
SET #data = SUBSTRING(#data,PATINDEX('%,%',#data)+1,LEN(#data))
IF PATINDEX('%,%',#data) = 0
INSERT INTO #tmp2
SELECT #data
END
DELETE FROM #tmp
WHERE [data] = #data1
END
SELECT * FROM #tmp2
END

Answer 3

Not talking about performance, you can concatenate the data in a single column and then split it.
Concatenate data: http://sqlfiddle.com/#!6/487a4/3
Split it: T-SQL: Opposite to string concatenation - how to split string into multiple records

Answer 4

Take a look at this article referenced in a similar question:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/7938/SQL-User-Defined-Function-to-Parse-a-Delimited-Str
If you create the function that they have in that article, you can call it using:
select * from dbo.fn_ParseText2Table('100|120|130.56|Yes|Cobalt Blue','|')

Answer 5

SELECT REPLACE(field_name, ',', ' ') from table
EDIT: Never mind this answer as you changed your question.