SQL Server Split And Table Insert

Question

I want to do the following using SQL Server 2005.

1. Create a stored procedure that takes a varchar() comma "," delimited param

2. Split / Explode the varchar() param and insert the values in a temporary table

Something that will do the following:

INSERT INTO #temp_table SPLIT('john,peter,sally',',');

SELECT * FROM #temp_table;

Is there a function or stored procedure that will perform a split?

If so, how does it work?

Thanks

Answer 1

SQL Server does not have a string split function out of the box, but you can create one like this

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.Split(@String varchar(8000), @Delimiter char(1))       
returns @temptable TABLE (items varchar(8000))       
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