SQL: how to get all the distinct characters in a column, across all rows

Question

Is there an elegant way in SQL Server to find all the distinct characters in a single varchar(50) column, across all rows?

Bonus points if it can be done without cur

Answer 1

Use this (shall work on any CTE-capable RDBMS):

select x.v into prod from (values('product1'),('widget2'),('nicknack3')) as x(v);

Test Query:

with a as 
(
    select v, '' as x, 0 as n from prod 
    union all
    select v, substring(v,n+1,1) as x, n+1 as n from a where n < len(v)
)
select v, x, n from a -- where n > 0
order by v, n
option (maxrecursion 0)

Final Query:

with a as 
(
    select v, '' as x, 0 as n from prod 
    union all
    select v, substring(v,n+1,1) as x, n+1 as n from a where n < len(v)
)
select distinct x from a where n > 0
order by x
option (maxrecursion 0)

Oracle version:

with a(v,x,n) as 
(
    select v, '' as x, 0 as n from prod 
    union all
    select v, substr(v,n+1,1) as x, n+1 as n from a where n < length(v)
)
select distinct x from a where n > 0