Background: I have to create a report that will be run regularly to send to an external entity. It calls for a comma delimited text file. Certain fields required for the report contain commas (I can easily parse the commas out of the name fields, but errant commas in the address and certain number fields are trickier). I have no control over the database design or input controls.
I know how to get a comma-delimited text file of query results from SQL Server Management Studio. But the commas in the fields screw everything up. I can change the delimiting character and then get the fields right in Excel, but that’s just a workaround – it needs to be able to meet specifications automatically.
This report previously ran on an antiquated DBMS – I have a copy of an old report, and the fields are all enclosed in double quotes (“….”). This would work – though I don’t know how the external users parse the fields (not my problem) – but I’m too dumb to figure out how to do it in t-sql.
Thanks!
You can use the Export Data task, but if you must try getting these results from Management Studio after running a query, go to Tools>Options, find the settings for Grid Output and check the box to delimit fields that contain field separators. This option will only take effect when you open a new query window.