How can I write this T-SQL cursor? - sql-server

Question

I have multiple values in one cell in a table which are separated by an space from each other. this is somehow how my table looks like, there is a space in between each string in every cell:
column1 | column2
|
abc fgt | rty lkj
I want to create another table based on the first table in which "abc" and "rty" are in one row because they both are located in the first place, "fgt" and "lkj" are in another row for the same relational reason (they are in the 2nd place and so on):
column1 | column2
|
abc | rty
fgt | lkj
How can I do that?

Answer 1

You can use a function like this
IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sysobjects WHERE ID = OBJECT_ID('UF_CSVToTable'))
DROP FUNCTION UF_CSVToTable
GO
CREATE FUNCTION UF_CSVToTable
(
#psCSString VARCHAR(8000)
)
RETURNS #otTemp TABLE(sID VARCHAR(20),tID VARCHAR(20))
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #sTemp VARCHAR(10)
DECLARE #tTemp VARCHAR(10)
WHILE LEN(#psCSString) > 0
BEGIN
SET #sTemp = LEFT(#psCSString, ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(' ', #psCSString) - 1, -1),
LEN(#psCSString)))
SET #psCSString = SUBSTRING(#psCSString,ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(' ', #psCSString), 0),
LEN(#psCSString)) + 1, LEN(#psCSString))
INSERT INTO #otTemp(sID) VALUES (#sTemp)
SET #tTemp = LEFT(#psCSString, ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(' ', #psCSString) - 1, -1),
LEN(#psCSString)))
SET #psCSString = SUBSTRING(#psCSString,ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(' ', #psCSString), 0),
LEN(#psCSString)) + 1, LEN(#psCSString))
UPDATE #otTemp SET tID=#tTemp WHERE sID=#sTemp
END
RETURN
END
Go
It can be called like this.
select * from UF_CSVToTable('1 2 3 4 5 6 7 15 55 59 86')
You need to pass your column as input parameter.
SQL FIDDLE DEMO

Answer 2

First of all, you can create UDF for splitting values by specific delimiter (in your case this is SPACE):
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[Split](#String nvarchar(4000), #Delimiter char(1))
returns #temptable TABLE (rownumber INT , items nvarchar(4000))
as
begin
declare #idx int
declare #slice nvarchar(4000)
DECLARE #rownumber int = 1
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(rownumber, Items) values(#rownumber, #slice)
set #String = right(#String,len(#String) - #idx)
SET #rownumber = #rownumber + 1
if len(#String) = 0 break
end
return
end
GO
After that, it is enough to write simple INSERT INTO SELECT... query:
INSERT INTO dbo.Table_2
( column1, column2 )
SELECT
item1.items ,
item2.items
FROM dbo.Split((SELECT column1 FROM dbo.Table_1), SPACE(1)) AS item1
FULL JOIN dbo.Split((SELECT column2 FROM dbo.Table_1), SPACE(1)) AS item2
ON item1.rownumber = item2.rownumber
Table_1 is table where actually values are, Table_2 is table for final rows.
SQL Fiddle Demo