T-SQL equivalent of =rand()

Question

I have several content tables that I want to fill up with random paragraphs of text. In MS Word, I can simply put =rand() and presto! I get three paragraphs of fresh-off-the-press text.

Is there a SQL script/command that I can use to generate random dictionary words using t-sql?

Answer 1

;
declare 
    @Lorem nvarchar(max),
    @RowsToGen int,
    @Factor int

select
    @Lorem = 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.',
    @RowsToGen = 200

-- strip punctuations
set @Lorem = replace(@Lorem, ',', '')
set @Lorem = replace(@Lorem, '.', '')

;
with
Num1(Pos) as
(
    select cast(1 as int)
    union all 
    select cast(Pos + 1 as int) from Num1 where Pos < len(@Lorem)
),
Words as
(
    select substring(@Lorem, Pos, charindex(' ', @Lorem + ' ', Pos) - Pos) as Word
        from Num1 where Pos <= len(@Lorem) and substring(',' + @Lorem, Pos, 1) = ' '
),
WordsCnt(Factor) as
(
    select @RowsToGen / count(*) + 1 from Words
),
Num2(Pos) as
(
    select cast(1 as int)
    union all 
    select cast(Pos + 1 as int) from Num2 cross join WordsCnt where Pos < WordsCnt. Factor
)
select top (@RowsToGen) 
    Word 
from 
    Num2 
cross join 
    Words
order by newid()
option (maxrecursion 0)