How to Split Sql Int Value into Multiple Rows - sql

Question

Lets say I have the following table in MS SQL 2000
Id | description | quantity |
-------------------------------
1 my desc 3
2 desc 2 2
I need to display multiple rows based on the quantity, so I need the following output:
Id | description | quantity |
-----------------------------
1 my desc 1
1 my desc 1
1 my desc 1
2 desc 2 1
2 desc 2 1
Any ideas how to accomplish this?

Answer 1

This works just fine, no need for any cursors on this one. It may be possible to fangle something out without a number table as well.
Note if going for this kind of solution I would keep a number table around and not recreate it every time I ran the query.
create table #splitme (Id int, description varchar(255), quantity int)
insert #splitme values (1 ,'my desc', 3)
insert #splitme values (2 ,'desc 2', 2)
create table #numbers (num int identity primary key)
declare #i int
select #i = max(quantity) from #splitme
while #i > 0
begin
insert #numbers default values
set #i = #i - 1
end
select Id, description, 1 from #splitme
join #numbers on num <= quantity

Answer 2

DECLARE #Id INT
DECLARE #Description VARCHAR(32)
DECLARE #Quantity INT
DECLARE #Results TABLE (Id INT, [description] VARCHAR(32), quantity INT)
DECLARE MyCursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT Id, [description], quantity
FROM
MyTable
OPEN MyCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM MyCursor INTO #Id, #Description, #Quantity
WHILE ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
WHILE #Quantity > 0
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #Results (
Id,
[description],
quantity
) VALUES (
#Id,
#Description,
1
)
SET #Quantity = #Quantity - 1
END
FETCH NEXT FROM MyCursor INTO #Id, #Description, #Quantity
END
CLOSE MyCursor
DEALLOCATE MyCursor
SELECT *
FROM
#Results
By the way, cursors are generally considered evil. So I will both recommend against something like this, and thank everyone in advance for their flames ;) (But it should work)

Answer 3

Any one looking for a CTE based solution, here is one:
create table test_splitme (Id int, description varchar(255), quantity int)
insert test_splitme values (1 ,'my desc', 3)
insert test_splitme values (2 ,'desc 2', 2)
;
--TSQL solution
with splitcte as(
select Id,description, 1 as quantity, quantity as orig_quantity, 1 as cnt
from test_splitme
union all
select Id, description, quantity, orig_quantity,cnt+1
from splitcte
where cnt < orig_quantity
)
select Id, description, quantity
from splitcte
order by 1