Converting comma delimited string to multiple columns in sql server

Question

I want to extract specific strings separated by a comma and parse across the specific columns in SQL server 2008. The table structure in SQL server is as follows:

Answer 1

You can see this working on SQL Fiddle: http://sqlfiddle.com/#!3/8c3ee/32

Here's the meat of it:

with parsed as (
  select
  commasepa,
  root.value('(/root/s/col[@name="X"])[1]', 'varchar(20)') as X,
  root.value('(/root/s/col[@name="Y"])[1]', 'varchar(20)') as Y,
  root.value('(/root/s/col[@name="Z"])[1]', 'varchar(20)') as Z,
  root.value('(/root/s/col[@name="A"])[1]', 'varchar(20)') as A,
  root.value('(/root/s/col[@name="B"])[1]', 'varchar(20)') as B,
  root.value('(/root/s/col[@name="C"])[1]', 'varchar(20)') as C,
  root.value('(/root/s/col[@name="D"])[1]', 'varchar(20)') as D
FROM
(
select
   commasepa,
   CONVERT(xml,''),',','1
 
 
  2
 
  ....

Once I have the string in that format, I then use the xquery options that SQL Server 2005 (and up) support, which is the .value('(/root/s/col[@name="X"])[1]', 'varchar(20)') part. I select each of the potential columns individually, so they are normalized and populated when available. With that normalized format, I define the result set with a Common Table Expression (CTE) that I called 'parsed'. This CTE is then joined back in the update statement, so that the values can be populated in the original table.