How do I avoid character encoding when using “FOR XML PATH”?

Question

I\'m looking to create a comma-separated list of values from a SQL Server 2005 table, just like in JanetOhara\'s question. I\'m using a query similar to the one presented i

Answer 1

You just need to use the right options with FOR XML. Here's one approach that avoids encoding:

USE tempdb;
GO

CREATE TABLE dbo.x(y nvarchar(255));

INSERT dbo.x SELECT 'Sports & Recreation'
   UNION ALL SELECT 'x >= y'
   UNION ALL SELECT 'blat'
   UNION ALL SELECT '';

-- BAD:
SELECT STUFF((SELECT N',' + y
  FROM dbo.x 
  FOR XML PATH(N'')),1, 1, N'');

-- GOOD:
SELECT STUFF((SELECT N',' + y
  FROM dbo.x 
  FOR XML PATH, TYPE).value(N'.[1]', N'nvarchar(max)'),1, 1, N'');

GO
DROP TABLE dbo.x;

If you are on a newer version of SQL Server (2017+), you can use STRING_AGG() and not worry about XML at all:

SELECT STRING_AGG(y, N',') FROM dbo.x;

db<>fiddle demonstrating all three.