Related
I have a table with standard columns where I want to perform regular INSERTs.
But one of the columns is of type varchar with special semantics. It's a string that's supposed to behave as a set of strings, where the elements of the set are separated by commas.
Eg. if one row has in that varchar column the value fish,sheep,dove, and I insert the string ,fish,eagle, I want the result to be fish,sheep,dove,eagle (ie. eagle gets added to the set, but fish doesn't because it's already in the set).
I have here this Postgres code that does the "set concatenation" that I want:
SELECT string_agg(unnest, ',') AS x FROM (SELECT DISTINCT unnest(string_to_array('fish,sheep,dove' || ',fish,eagle', ','))) AS x;
But I can't figure out how to apply this logic to insertions.
What I want is something like:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS t00(
userid int8 PRIMARY KEY,
a int8,
b varchar);
INSERT INTO t00 (userid,a,b) VALUES (0,1,'fish,sheep,dove');
INSERT INTO t00 (userid,a,b) VALUES (0,1,',fish,eagle')
ON CONFLICT (userid)
DO UPDATE SET
a = EXCLUDED.a,
b = SELECT string_agg(unnest, ',') AS x FROM (SELECT DISTINCT unnest(string_to_array(t00.b || EXCLUDED.b, ','))) AS x;
How can I achieve something like that?
Storing comma separated values is a huge mistake to begin with. But if you really want to make your life harder than it needs to be, you might want to create a function that merges two comma separated lists:
create function merge_lists(p_one text, p_two text)
returns text
as
$$
select string_agg(item, ',')
from (
select e.item
from unnest(string_to_array(p_one, ',')) as e(item)
where e.item <> '' --< necessary because of the leading , in your data
union
select t.item
from unnest(string_to_array(p_two, ',')) t(item)
where t.item <> ''
) t;
$$
language sql;
If you are using Postgres 14 or later, unnest(string_to_array(..., ',')) can be replace with string_to_table(..., ',')
Then your INSERT statement gets a bit simpler:
INSERT INTO t00 (userid,a,b) VALUES (0,1,',fish,eagle')
ON CONFLICT (userid)
DO UPDATE SET
a = EXCLUDED.a,
b = merge_lists(excluded.b, t00.b);
I think I was only missing parentheses around the SELECT statement:
INSERT INTO t00 (userid,a,b) VALUES (0,1,',fish,eagle')
ON CONFLICT (userid)
DO UPDATE SET
a = EXCLUDED.a,
b = (SELECT string_agg(unnest, ',') AS x FROM (SELECT DISTINCT unnest(string_to_array(t00.b || EXCLUDED.b, ','))) AS x);
Hello what is the easiest way to duplicate a DB record over the same table?
My problem is that the table where I am doing this has many column, like 100+, and I don't like how the solution looks like. Here is what I do (this is inside plpqsql function):
...
1. duplicate record
INSERT INTO history
(SELECT NEXTVAL('history_id_seq'), col_1, col_2, ... , col_100)
FROM history
WHERE history_id = 1234
ORDER BY datetime DESC
LIMIT 1)
RETURNING
history_id INTO new_history_id;
2. update some columns
UPDATE history
SET
col_5 = 'test_5',
col_23 = 'test_23',
datetime = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
WHERE history_id = new_history_id;
Here are the problems I am attempting to solve
Listing all these 100+ columns looks lame
When new column is added eventually the function should be updated too
On separate DB instances the column order might differ, which would cause the function fail
I am not sure if I can list them once more (solving issue 3) like insert into <table> (<columns_list>) values (<query>) but then the query looks even uglier.
I would like to achieve something like 'insert into ', but this seems impossible the unique primary key constraint will raise a duplication error.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for you time.
This isn't pretty or particularly optimized but there are a couple of ways to go about this. Ideally, you might want to do this all in an UPDATE trigger though you could implement a duplication function something like this:
-- create source table
CREATE TABLE history (history_id serial not null primary key, col_2 int, col_3 int, col_4 int, datetime timestamptz default now());
-- add some data
INSERT INTO history (col_2, col_3, col_4)
SELECT g, g * 10, g * 100 FROM generate_series(1, 100) AS g;
-- function to duplicate record
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION fn_history_duplicate(p_history_id integer) RETURNS SETOF history AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
cols text;
insert_statement text;
BEGIN
-- build list of columns
SELECT array_to_string(array_agg(column_name::name), ',') INTO cols
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE (table_schema, table_name) = ('public', 'history')
AND column_name <> 'history_id';
-- build insert statement
insert_statement := 'INSERT INTO history (' || cols || ') SELECT ' || cols || ' FROM history WHERE history_id = $1 RETURNING *';
-- execute statement
RETURN QUERY EXECUTE insert_statement USING p_history_id;
RETURN;
END;
$BODY$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';
-- test
SELECT * FROM fn_history_duplicate(1);
history_id | col_2 | col_3 | col_4 | datetime
------------+-------+-------+-------+-------------------------------
101 | 1 | 10 | 100 | 2013-04-15 14:56:11.131507+00
(1 row)
As I noted in my original comment, you might also take a look at the colnames extension as an alternative to querying the information schema.
You don't need the update anyway, you can supply the constant values directly in the SELECT statement:
INSERT INTO history
SELECT NEXTVAL('history_id_seq'),
col_1,
col_2,
col_3,
col_4,
'test_5',
...
'test_23',
...,
col_100
FROM history
WHERE history_sid = 1234
ORDER BY datetime DESC
LIMIT 1
RETURNING history_sid INTO new_history_sid;
I'm using PostgreSQL 9.0 and I have a table with just an artificial key (auto-incrementing sequence) and another unique key. (Yes, there is a reason for this table. :)) I want to look up an ID by the other key or, if it doesn't exist, insert it:
SELECT id
FROM mytable
WHERE other_key = 'SOMETHING'
Then, if no match:
INSERT INTO mytable (other_key)
VALUES ('SOMETHING')
RETURNING id
The question: is it possible to save a round-trip to the DB by doing both of these in one statement? I can insert the row if it doesn't exist like this:
INSERT INTO mytable (other_key)
SELECT 'SOMETHING'
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE other_key = 'SOMETHING')
RETURNING id
... but that doesn't give the ID of an existing row. Any ideas? There is a unique constraint on other_key, if that helps.
Have you tried to union it?
Edit - this requires Postgres 9.1:
create table mytable (id serial primary key, other_key varchar not null unique);
WITH new_row AS (
INSERT INTO mytable (other_key)
SELECT 'SOMETHING'
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE other_key = 'SOMETHING')
RETURNING *
)
SELECT * FROM new_row
UNION
SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE other_key = 'SOMETHING';
results in:
id | other_key
----+-----------
1 | SOMETHING
(1 row)
No, there is no special SQL syntax that allows you to do select or insert. You can do what Ilia mentions and create a sproc, which means it will not do a round trip fromt he client to server, but it will still result in two queries (three actually, if you count the sproc itself).
using 9.5 i successfully tried this
based on Denis de Bernardy's answer
only 1 parameter
no union
no stored procedure
atomic, thus no concurrency problems (i think...)
The Query:
WITH neworexisting AS (
INSERT INTO mytable(other_key) VALUES('hello 2')
ON CONFLICT(other_key) DO UPDATE SET existed=true -- need some update to return sth
RETURNING *
)
SELECT * FROM neworexisting
first call:
id|other_key|created |existed|
--|---------|-------------------|-------|
6|hello 1 |2019-09-11 11:39:29|false |
second call:
id|other_key|created |existed|
--|---------|-------------------|-------|
6|hello 1 |2019-09-11 11:39:29|true |
First create your table ;-)
CREATE TABLE mytable (
id serial NOT NULL,
other_key text NOT NULL,
created timestamptz NOT NULL DEFAULT now(),
existed bool NOT NULL DEFAULT false,
CONSTRAINT mytable_pk PRIMARY KEY (id),
CONSTRAINT mytable_uniq UNIQUE (other_key) --needed for on conflict
);
you can use a stored procedure
IF (SELECT id FROM mytable WHERE other_key = 'SOMETHING' LIMIT 1) < 0 THEN
INSERT INTO mytable (other_key) VALUES ('SOMETHING')
END IF
I have an alternative to Denis answer, that I think is less database-intensive, although a bit more complex:
create table mytable (id serial primary key, other_key varchar not null unique);
WITH table_sel AS (
SELECT id
FROM mytable
WHERE other_key = 'test'
UNION
SELECT NULL AS id
ORDER BY id NULLS LAST
LIMIT 1
), table_ins AS (
INSERT INTO mytable (id, other_key)
SELECT
COALESCE(id, NEXTVAL('mytable_id_seq'::REGCLASS)),
'test'
FROM table_sel
ON CONFLICT (id) DO NOTHING
RETURNING id
)
SELECT * FROM table_ins
UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM table_sel
WHERE id IS NOT NULL;
In table_sel CTE I'm looking for the right row. If I don't find it, I assure that table_sel returns at least one row, with a union with a SELECT NULL.
In table_ins CTE I try to insert the same row I was looking for earlier. COALESCE(id, NEXTVAL('mytable_id_seq'::REGCLASS)) is saying: id could be defined, if so, use it; whereas if id is null, increment the sequence on id and use this new value to insert a row. The ON CONFLICT clause assure
that if id is already in mytable I don't insert anything.
At the end I put everything together with a UNION between table_ins and table_sel, so that I'm sure to take my sweet id value and execute both CTE.
This query needs to search for the value other_key only once, and is a "search this value" not a "check if this value not exists in the table", that is very heavy; in Denis alternative you use other_key in both types of searches. In my query you "check if a value not exists" only on id that is a integer primary key, that, for construction, is fast.
Minor tweak a decade late to Denis's excellent answer:
-- Create the table with a unique constraint
CREATE TABLE mytable (
id serial PRIMARY KEY
, other_key varchar NOT NULL UNIQUE
);
WITH new_row AS (
-- Only insert when we don't find anything, avoiding a table lock if
-- possible.
INSERT INTO mytable ( other_key )
SELECT 'SOMETHING'
WHERE NOT EXISTS (
SELECT *
FROM mytable
WHERE other_key = 'SOMETHING'
)
RETURNING *
)
(
-- This comes first in the UNION ALL since it'll almost certainly be
-- in the query cache. Marginally slower for the insert case, but also
-- marginally faster for the much more common read-only case.
SELECT *
FROM mytable
WHERE other_key = 'SOMETHING'
-- Don't check for duplicates to be removed
UNION ALL
-- If we reach this point in iteration, we needed to do the INSERT and
-- lock after all.
SELECT *
FROM new_row
) LIMIT 1 -- Just return whatever comes first in the results and allow
-- the query engine to cut processing short for the INSERT
-- calculation.
;
The UNION ALL tells the planner it doesn't have to collect results for de-duplication. The LIMIT 1 at the end allows the planner to short-circuit further processing/iteration once it knows there's an answer available.
NOTE: There is a race condition present here and in the original answer. If the entry does not already exist, the INSERT will fail with a unique constraint violation. The error can be suppressed with ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING, but the query will return an empty set instead of the new row. This is a difficult problem because getting that info from another transaction would violate the I in ACID.
I'm using Python to write to a postgres database:
sql_string = "INSERT INTO hundred (name,name_slug,status) VALUES ("
sql_string += hundred + ", '" + hundred_slug + "', " + status + ");"
cursor.execute(sql_string)
But because some of my rows are identical, I get the following error:
psycopg2.IntegrityError: duplicate key value
violates unique constraint "hundred_pkey"
How can I write an 'INSERT unless this row already exists' SQL statement?
I've seen complex statements like this recommended:
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM invoices WHERE invoiceid = '12345')
UPDATE invoices SET billed = 'TRUE' WHERE invoiceid = '12345'
ELSE
INSERT INTO invoices (invoiceid, billed) VALUES ('12345', 'TRUE')
END IF
But firstly, is this overkill for what I need, and secondly, how can I execute one of those as a simple string?
Postgres 9.5 (released since 2016-01-07) offers an "upsert" command, also known as an ON CONFLICT clause to INSERT:
INSERT ... ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING/UPDATE
It solves many of the subtle problems you can run into when using concurrent operation, which some other answers propose.
How can I write an 'INSERT unless this row already exists' SQL statement?
There is a nice way of doing conditional INSERT in PostgreSQL:
INSERT INTO example_table
(id, name)
SELECT 1, 'John'
WHERE
NOT EXISTS (
SELECT id FROM example_table WHERE id = 1
);
CAVEAT This approach is not 100% reliable for concurrent write operations, though. There is a very tiny race condition between the SELECT in the NOT EXISTS anti-semi-join and the INSERT itself. It can fail under such conditions.
One approach would be to create a non-constrained (no unique indexes) table to insert all your data into and do a select distinct from that to do your insert into your hundred table.
So high level would be. I assume all three columns are distinct in my example so for step3 change the NOT EXITS join to only join on the unique columns in the hundred table.
Create temporary table. See docs here.
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE temp_data(name, name_slug, status);
INSERT Data into temp table.
INSERT INTO temp_data(name, name_slug, status);
Add any indexes to the temp table.
Do main table insert.
INSERT INTO hundred(name, name_slug, status)
SELECT DISTINCT name, name_slug, status
FROM hundred
WHERE NOT EXISTS (
SELECT 'X'
FROM temp_data
WHERE
temp_data.name = hundred.name
AND temp_data.name_slug = hundred.name_slug
AND temp_data.status = status
);
Unfortunately, PostgreSQL supports neither MERGE nor ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE, so you'll have to do it in two statements:
UPDATE invoices
SET billed = 'TRUE'
WHERE invoices = '12345'
INSERT
INTO invoices (invoiceid, billed)
SELECT '12345', 'TRUE'
WHERE '12345' NOT IN
(
SELECT invoiceid
FROM invoices
)
You can wrap it into a function:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION fn_upd_invoices(id VARCHAR(32), billed VARCHAR(32))
RETURNS VOID
AS
$$
UPDATE invoices
SET billed = $2
WHERE invoices = $1;
INSERT
INTO invoices (invoiceid, billed)
SELECT $1, $2
WHERE $1 NOT IN
(
SELECT invoiceid
FROM invoices
);
$$
LANGUAGE 'sql';
and just call it:
SELECT fn_upd_invoices('12345', 'TRUE')
This is exactly the problem I face and my version is 9.5
And I solve it with SQL query below.
INSERT INTO example_table (id, name)
SELECT 1 AS id, 'John' AS name FROM example_table
WHERE NOT EXISTS(
SELECT id FROM example_table WHERE id = 1
)
LIMIT 1;
Hope that will help someone who has the same issue with version >= 9.5.
Thanks for reading.
You can make use of VALUES - available in Postgres:
INSERT INTO person (name)
SELECT name FROM person
UNION
VALUES ('Bob')
EXCEPT
SELECT name FROM person;
I know this question is from a while ago, but thought this might help someone. I think the easiest way to do this is via a trigger. E.g.:
Create Function ignore_dups() Returns Trigger
As $$
Begin
If Exists (
Select
*
From
hundred h
Where
-- Assuming all three fields are primary key
h.name = NEW.name
And h.hundred_slug = NEW.hundred_slug
And h.status = NEW.status
) Then
Return NULL;
End If;
Return NEW;
End;
$$ Language plpgsql;
Create Trigger ignore_dups
Before Insert On hundred
For Each Row
Execute Procedure ignore_dups();
Execute this code from a psql prompt (or however you like to execute queries directly on the database). Then you can insert as normal from Python. E.g.:
sql = "Insert Into hundreds (name, name_slug, status) Values (%s, %s, %s)"
cursor.execute(sql, (hundred, hundred_slug, status))
Note that as #Thomas_Wouters already mentioned, the code above takes advantage of parameters rather than concatenating the string.
There is a nice way of doing conditional INSERT in PostgreSQL using WITH query:
Like:
WITH a as(
select
id
from
schema.table_name
where
column_name = your_identical_column_value
)
INSERT into
schema.table_name
(col_name1, col_name2)
SELECT
(col_name1, col_name2)
WHERE NOT EXISTS (
SELECT
id
FROM
a
)
RETURNING id
we can simplify the query using upsert
insert into invoices (invoiceid, billed)
values ('12345', 'TRUE')
on conflict (invoiceid) do
update set billed=EXCLUDED.billed;
INSERT .. WHERE NOT EXISTS is good approach. And race conditions can be avoided by transaction "envelope":
BEGIN;
LOCK TABLE hundred IN SHARE ROW EXCLUSIVE MODE;
INSERT ... ;
COMMIT;
It's easy with rules:
CREATE RULE file_insert_defer AS ON INSERT TO file
WHERE (EXISTS ( SELECT * FROM file WHERE file.id = new.id)) DO INSTEAD NOTHING
But it fails with concurrent writes ...
The approach with the most upvotes (from John Doe) does somehow work for me but in my case from expected 422 rows i get only 180.
I couldn't find anything wrong and there are no errors at all, so i looked for a different simple approach.
Using IF NOT FOUND THEN after a SELECT just works perfectly for me.
(described in PostgreSQL Documentation)
Example from documentation:
SELECT * INTO myrec FROM emp WHERE empname = myname;
IF NOT FOUND THEN
RAISE EXCEPTION 'employee % not found', myname;
END IF;
psycopgs cursor class has the attribute rowcount.
This read-only attribute specifies the number of rows that the last
execute*() produced (for DQL statements like SELECT) or affected (for
DML statements like UPDATE or INSERT).
So you could try UPDATE first and INSERT only if rowcount is 0.
But depending on activity levels in your database you may hit a race condition between UPDATE and INSERT where another process may create that record in the interim.
Your column "hundred" seems to be defined as primary key and therefore must be unique which is not the case. The problem isn't with, it is with your data.
I suggest you insert an id as serial type to handly the primary key
If you say that many of your rows are identical you will end checking many times. You can send them and the database will determine if insert it or not with the ON CONFLICT clause as follows
INSERT INTO Hundred (name,name_slug,status) VALUES ("sql_string += hundred
+",'" + hundred_slug + "', " + status + ") ON CONFLICT ON CONSTRAINT
hundred_pkey DO NOTHING;" cursor.execute(sql_string);
INSERT INTO invoices (invoiceid, billed) (
SELECT '12345','TRUE' WHERE NOT EXISTS (
SELECT 1 FROM invoices WHERE invoiceid='12345' AND billed='TRUE'
)
)
I was looking for a similar solution, trying to find SQL that work work in PostgreSQL as well as HSQLDB. (HSQLDB was what made this difficult.) Using your example as a basis, this is the format that I found elsewhere.
sql = "INSERT INTO hundred (name,name_slug,status)"
sql += " ( SELECT " + hundred + ", '" + hundred_slug + "', " + status
sql += " FROM hundred"
sql += " WHERE name = " + hundred + " AND name_slug = '" + hundred_slug + "' AND status = " + status
sql += " HAVING COUNT(*) = 0 );"
Here is a generic python function that given a tablename, columns and values, generates the upsert equivalent for postgresql.
import json
def upsert(table_name, id_column, other_columns, values_hash):
template = """
WITH new_values ($$ALL_COLUMNS$$) as (
values
($$VALUES_LIST$$)
),
upsert as
(
update $$TABLE_NAME$$ m
set
$$SET_MAPPINGS$$
FROM new_values nv
WHERE m.$$ID_COLUMN$$ = nv.$$ID_COLUMN$$
RETURNING m.*
)
INSERT INTO $$TABLE_NAME$$ ($$ALL_COLUMNS$$)
SELECT $$ALL_COLUMNS$$
FROM new_values
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM upsert up
WHERE up.$$ID_COLUMN$$ = new_values.$$ID_COLUMN$$)
"""
all_columns = [id_column] + other_columns
all_columns_csv = ",".join(all_columns)
all_values_csv = ','.join([query_value(values_hash[column_name]) for column_name in all_columns])
set_mappings = ",".join([ c+ " = nv." +c for c in other_columns])
q = template
q = q.replace("$$TABLE_NAME$$", table_name)
q = q.replace("$$ID_COLUMN$$", id_column)
q = q.replace("$$ALL_COLUMNS$$", all_columns_csv)
q = q.replace("$$VALUES_LIST$$", all_values_csv)
q = q.replace("$$SET_MAPPINGS$$", set_mappings)
return q
def query_value(value):
if value is None:
return "NULL"
if type(value) in [str, unicode]:
return "'%s'" % value.replace("'", "''")
if type(value) == dict:
return "'%s'" % json.dumps(value).replace("'", "''")
if type(value) == bool:
return "%s" % value
if type(value) == int:
return "%s" % value
return value
if __name__ == "__main__":
my_table_name = 'mytable'
my_id_column = 'id'
my_other_columns = ['field1', 'field2']
my_values_hash = {
'id': 123,
'field1': "john",
'field2': "doe"
}
print upsert(my_table_name, my_id_column, my_other_columns, my_values_hash)
The solution in simple, but not immediatly.
If you want use this instruction, you must make one change to the db:
ALTER USER user SET search_path to 'name_of_schema';
after these changes "INSERT" will work correctly.
-- Given a CSV string like this:
declare #roles varchar(800)
select #roles = 'Pub,RegUser,ServiceAdmin'
-- Question: How to get roles into a table view like this:
select 'Pub'
union
select 'RegUser'
union
select 'ServiceAdmin'
After posting this, I started playing with some dynamic SQL. This seems to work, but seems like there might be some security risks by using dynamic SQL - thoughts on this?
declare #rolesSql varchar(800)
select #rolesSql = 'select ''' + replace(#roles, ',', ''' union select ''') + ''''
exec(#rolesSql)
If you're working with SQL Server compatibility level 130 then the STRING_SPLIT function is now the most succinct method available.
Reference link: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/mt684588.aspx
Usage:
SELECT * FROM string_split('Pub,RegUser,ServiceAdmin',',')
RESULT:
value
-----------
Pub
RegUser
ServiceAdmin
See my answer from here
But basically you would:
Create this function in your DB:
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.Split(#origString varchar(max), #Delimiter char(1))
returns #temptable TABLE (items varchar(max))
as
begin
declare #idx int
declare #split varchar(max)
select #idx = 1
if len(#origString )<1 or #origString is null return
while #idx!= 0
begin
set #idx = charindex(#Delimiter,#origString)
if #idx!=0
set #split= left(#origString,#idx - 1)
else
set #split= #origString
if(len(#split)>0)
insert into #temptable(Items) values(#split)
set #origString= right(#origString,len(#origString) - #idx)
if len(#origString) = 0 break
end
return
end
and then call the function and pass in the string you want to split.
Select * From dbo.Split(#roles, ',')
Here's a thorough discussion of your options:
Arrays and Lists in SQL Server
What i do in this case is just using some string replace to convert it to json and open the json like a table. May not be suitable for every use case but it is very simple to get running and works with strings and files. With files you just need to watch your line break character, mostly i find it to be "Char(13)+Char(10)"
declare #myCSV nvarchar(MAX)= N'"Id";"Duration";"PosX";"PosY"
"•P001";223;-30;35
"•P002";248;-28;35
"•P003";235;-26;35'
--CSV to JSON
--convert to json by replacing some stuff
declare #myJson nvarchar(MAX)= '[['+ replace(#myCSV, Char(13)+Char(10), '],[' ) +']]'
set #myJson = replace(#myJson, ';',',') -- Optional: ensure coma delimiters for json if the current delimiter differs
-- set #myJson = replace(#myJson, ',,',',null,') -- Optional: empty in between
-- set #myJson = replace(#myJson, ',]',',null]') -- Optional: empty before linebreak
SELECT
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT 0))-1 AS LineNumber, *
FROM OPENJSON( #myJson )
with (
col0 varchar(255) '$[0]'
,col1 varchar(255) '$[1]'
,col2 varchar(255) '$[2]'
,col3 varchar(255) '$[3]'
,col4 varchar(255) '$[4]'
,col5 varchar(255) '$[5]'
,col6 varchar(255) '$[6]'
,col7 varchar(255) '$[7]'
,col8 varchar(255) '$[8]'
,col9 varchar(255) '$[9]'
--any name column count is possible
) csv
order by (SELECT 0) OFFSET 1 ROWS --hide header row
Using SQL Server's built in XML parsing is also an option. Of course, this glosses over all the nuances of an RFC-4180 compliant CSV.
-- Given a CSV string like this:
declare #roles varchar(800)
select #roles = 'Pub,RegUser,ServiceAdmin'
-- Here's the XML way
select split.csv.value('.', 'varchar(100)') as value
from (
select cast('<x>' + replace(#roles, ',', '</x><x>') + '</x>' as xml) as data
) as csv
cross apply data.nodes('/x') as split(csv)
If you are using SQL 2016+, using string_split is better, but this is a common way to do this prior to SQL 2016.
Using BULK INSERT you can import a csv file into your sql table -
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2008/02/06/sql-server-import-csv-file-into-sql-server-using-bulk-insert-load-comma-delimited-file-into-sql-server/
Even the accepted answer is working fine. but I got this function much faster even for thousands of record. create below function and use.
IF EXISTS (
SELECT 1
FROM Information_schema.Routines
WHERE Specific_schema = 'dbo'
AND specific_name = 'FN_CSVToStringListTable'
AND Routine_Type = 'FUNCTION'
)
BEGIN
DROP FUNCTION [dbo].[FN_CSVToStringListTable]
END
GO
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[FN_CSVToStringListTable] (#InStr VARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS #TempTab TABLE (Id NVARCHAR(max) NOT NULL)
AS
BEGIN
;-- Ensure input ends with comma
SET #InStr = REPLACE(#InStr + ',', ',,', ',')
DECLARE #SP INT
DECLARE #VALUE VARCHAR(1000)
WHILE PATINDEX('%,%', #INSTR) <> 0
BEGIN
SELECT #SP = PATINDEX('%,%', #INSTR)
SELECT #VALUE = LEFT(#INSTR, #SP - 1)
SELECT #INSTR = STUFF(#INSTR, 1, #SP, '')
INSERT INTO #TempTab (Id)
VALUES (#VALUE)
END
RETURN
END
GO
---Test like this.
declare #v as NVARCHAR(max) = N'asdf,,as34df,234df,fs,,34v,5fghwer,56gfg,';
SELECT Id FROM dbo.FN_CSVToStringListTable(#v)
I was about you use the solution mentioned in the accepted answer, but doing more research led me to use Table Value Types:
These are far more efficient and you don't need a TVF (Table valued function) just to create a table from csv. You can use it directly in your scripts or pass that to a stored procedure as a Table Value Parameter. The Type can be created as :
CREATE TYPE [UniqueIdentifiers] AS TABLE(
[Id] [varchar](20) NOT NULL
)