SQL Server string to table function

Question

Does someone have a good, fast SQL Server function that will take a string with a delimiter and return it as a table?

Thanks

Answer 1

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fnSplit(
    @sInputList VARCHAR(8000) -- List of delimited items
  , @sDelimiter VARCHAR(8000) = ',' -- delimiter that separates items
) RETURNS @List TABLE (item VARCHAR(8000))

BEGIN
DECLARE @sItem VARCHAR(8000)
WHILE CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter,@sInputList,0) <> 0
 BEGIN
 SELECT
  @sItem=RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@sInputList,1,CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter,@sInputList,0)-1))),
  @sInputList=RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@sInputList,CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter,@sInputList,0)+LEN(@sDelimiter),LEN(@sInputList))))

 IF LEN(@sItem) > 0
  INSERT INTO @List SELECT @sItem
 END

IF LEN(@sInputList) > 0
 INSERT INTO @List SELECT @sInputList -- Put the last item in
RETURN
END
GO
--Test
select * from fnSplit('1,22,333,444,,5555,666', ',')
select * from fnSplit('1##22#333##444','##')  --note second item has embedded #
select * from fnSplit('1 22 333 444  5555 666', ' ')

Answer 2

Added a bit of a twist to get the resulting items to be Integers and leveraged the NVARCHAR(MAX) capabilities of SQL 2008+

GO
/****** Object:  UserDefinedFunction [dbo].[udf_fnSplit]    Script Date: 05/28/2013 15:22:00 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[udf_fnSplit](
    @sInputList VARCHAR(MAX) -- List of delimited items
  , @sDelimiter VARCHAR(MAX) = ',' -- delimiter that separates items
) RETURNS @List TABLE (id int)

BEGIN
DECLARE @sItem VARCHAR(8000)
WHILE CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter,@sInputList,0) <> 0
 BEGIN
 SELECT
  @sItem=RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@sInputList,1,CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter,@sInputList,0)-1))),
  @sInputList=RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@sInputList,CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter,@sInputList,0)+LEN(@sDelimiter),LEN(@sInputList))))

 IF LEN(@sItem) > 0
  INSERT INTO @List SELECT CONVERT(INT,@sItem)
 END

IF LEN(@sInputList) > 0
 INSERT INTO @List SELECT @sInputList -- Put the last item in
RETURN
END