Breaking apart Column into rows

[rcamarda]

I have a column that has text delimited by a percent sign that I wish
to turn into rows.
Example:
A column contains ROBERT%CAMARDA, I want to turn that into two rows,
one row with ROBERT and antoher row with CAMARDA.
I will have source rows that have zero, one, or many percent sign
delimiters that will correspond to that many rows (One percent sign
will create 2 rows, 2 percent signs will create 3 rows and so forth).

Any thoughts?
TIA
Rob

[Erland Sommarskog]

rcamarda (rc******@cablespeed.com) writes:

I have a column that has text delimited by a percent sign that I wish
to turn into rows.
Example:
A column contains ROBERT%CAMARDA, I want to turn that into two rows,
one row with ROBERT and antoher row with CAMARDA.
I will have source rows that have zero, one, or many percent sign
delimiters that will correspond to that many rows (One percent sign
will create 2 rows, 2 percent signs will create 3 rows and so forth).

Have a look at an article on my web site:
http://www.sommarskog.se/arrays-in-sql.html.

Specifically, look at "List-of-strings" and "Unpacking a table column".

You did not say which version of SQL Server you are using. The article
is written for SQL 2000. SQL 2005 provides a new operator CROSS APPLY
which is good for the column bit. In SQL 2000, you will have to run
it row by row.
--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, es****@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...ads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinf...ons/books.mspx