Question

I have a SQL Server 2008 R2 column containing a string which I need to split by a comma. I have seen many answers on StackOverflow but none of them works in R2. I have made sure I have select permissions on any split function examples. Any help greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I’ve used this SQL before which may work for you:-

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.splitstring ( @stringToSplit VARCHAR(MAX) )
RETURNS
 @returnList TABLE ([Name] [nvarchar] (500))
AS
BEGIN

 DECLARE @name NVARCHAR(255)
 DECLARE @pos INT

 WHILE CHARINDEX(',', @stringToSplit) > 0
 BEGIN
  SELECT @pos  = CHARINDEX(',', @stringToSplit)  
  SELECT @name = SUBSTRING(@stringToSplit, 1, @pos-1)

  INSERT INTO @returnList 
  SELECT @name

  SELECT @stringToSplit = SUBSTRING(@stringToSplit, @pos+1, LEN(@stringToSplit)-@pos)
 END

 INSERT INTO @returnList
 SELECT @stringToSplit

 RETURN
END

and to use it:-

SELECT * FROM dbo.splitstring('91,12,65,78,56,789')