Separate a TEXT block by new lines - sql

Question

In T-SQL, I need to separate a TEXT value by new lines character and then loop on each line.
In other words, I need an explode() function, but for T-SQL, and I need to to loop on each line.
I tough about creating a new temporary table and storing lines of the string in this table as rows, and then loop on this with a cursor. I'm just not sure about how to separate a string.
Is there a quick way to do this in T-SQL ?

Answer 1

(I supposed your data would be larger than 4000 caracters.)
The split function:
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.Split
(
#RowData nvarchar(2000),
#SplitOn nvarchar(5)
)
RETURNS #RtnValue table
(
Id int identity(1,1),
Data nvarchar(2000)
)
AS
BEGIN
Declare #Cnt int
Set #Cnt = 1
While (Charindex(#SplitOn,#RowData)>0)
Begin
Insert Into #RtnValue (data)
Select
Data = ltrim(rtrim(Substring(#RowData,1,Charindex(#SplitOn,#RowData)-1)))
Set #RowData = Substring(#RowData,Charindex(#SplitOn,#RowData)+1,len(#RowData))
Set #Cnt = #Cnt + 1
End
Insert Into #RtnValue (data)
Select Data = ltrim(rtrim(#RowData))
Return
END
And the explode function:
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.*tableName*_Explode
(
#id int
)
RETURNS #RtnValue table
(
Id int,
Data NVARCHAR(2000)
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #LINEBREAK AS varchar(2)
SET #LINEBREAK = CHAR(13) + CHAR(10)
DECLARE #short_text NVARCHAR(2000)
DECLARE #short_text_length INT
DECLARE #sub_length INT
SET #sub_length = 2000
DECLARE #sub_index INT
SET #sub_index = 1
BEGIN
SET #short_text = (select SUBSTRING(*tableData*,#sub_index,#sub_length) from *tableName* WHERE id = #id)
SET #short_text_length = DATALENGTH(#short_text)
WHILE (#short_text_length > 0)
BEGIN
Insert Into #RtnValue (id,data)
SELECT #id, #short_text
SET #sub_index = (#sub_index + #sub_length)
SET #short_text = (select SUBSTRING(*tableData*,#sub_index,#sub_length) from *tableName* WHERE id = #id)
SET #short_text_length = DATALENGTH(#short_text)
END
IF (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM #RtnValue) = 0
Insert Into #RtnValue (id,data)
SELECT #id, ''
END
RETURN
END