I need to use a comma delimited string for SQL AND condition on each word

Question

So I have a parameter. Lets say:

@Tags = 'Red,Large,New'

I have a field in my table called [Tags]

Lets say one particular row that field contains "Red,Large,New,SomethingElse,AndSomethingElse"

How can I break that apart to basically achieve the following logic, which I'll type for understanding but I know is wrong:

SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE
Tags LIKE 'FirstWordInString'
AND Tags Like 'SecondWordInString'
AND Tags Like 'ThirdWordInString'

But it knows where to stop? Knows if there's just one word? Or two? Or three?

Workflow:

Someone clicks a tag and the dataset is filtered by that tag. They click another and the tag is appended to the search box and the dataset is then filtered by both of those tags, etc.

Thank you!

Update:

This is a product based situation.

1. When a product is created the creator can enter search tags separated by commas.
2. When the product is inserted, the search tags are inserted into a separate table called ProductTags (ProductID, TagID)

So, in the Product table, I have a field that has them separated by string for display purposes in the application side, and these same tags are also found in the ProductTag table separated by row based on ProductID.

What I'm not understanding is how to place the condition in the select that delivers results if all the tags in the search exist for that product.

I thought it would be easier to just use the comma separated field, but perhaps I should be using the corresponding table (ProductTags)

Answer 1

One relational division approach using the ProductTags table is

DECLARE @TagsToSearch TABLE (
  TagId VARCHAR(50) PRIMARY KEY )

INSERT INTO @TagsToSearch
VALUES      ('Red'),
            ('Large'),
            ('New')

SELECT PT.ProductID
FROM   ProductTags PT
       JOIN @TagsToSearch TS
         ON TS.TagId = PT.TagId
GROUP  BY PT.ProductID
HAVING COUNT(*) = (SELECT COUNT(*)
                   FROM   @TagsToSearch) 

The @TagsToSearch table would ideally be a table valued parameter passed directly from your application but could also be populated by using a split function against your comma delimited parameter.

Answer 2

You just need to add wildcards:

SELECT * 
FROM MyTable 
WHERE    ','+Tags+',' LIKE '%,FirstWordInString,%'
     AND ','+Tags+','Like '%,SecondWordInString,%'
     AND ','+Tags+','Like '%,ThirdWordInString,%'

UPDATE: I understand now the problem is that you have a variable you are trying to match the tags to. The variable has the string list of tags. If you split the list of user selected tags using a split string function, or can get the user selected tags from input form separately, then you can just use:

SELECT *
FROM MyTable
WHERE ',,'+Tags+',' LIKE '%,'+@tag1+',%'
         AND ',,'+Tags+',' LIKE '%,'+@tag2+',%'
         AND ',,'+Tags+',' LIKE '%,'+@tag3+',%'
         AND ',,'+Tags+',' LIKE '%,'+@tag4+',%'

etc.

This will work for any number of entered tags, as an empty @tag would result in the double comma appended to the tags field matching '%,,%'.

Answer 3

From codeproject:

-- =============================================
-- Author: Md. Marufuzzaman
-- Create date: 
-- Description: Split an expression. 
-- Note: If you are using SQL Server 2000, You need to change the 
-- length (MAX) to your maximum expression length of each datatype.
-- =============================================
/*
SELECT * FROM [dbo].[SPLIT] (';','I love codeProject;!!!;Your development resources')
*/
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SPLIT] 
(  @DELIMITER VARCHAR(5), 
  @LIST      VARCHAR(MAX) 
 ) 
   RETURNS @TABLEOFVALUES TABLE 
  (  ROWID   SMALLINT IDENTITY(1,1), 
     [VALUE] VARCHAR(MAX) 
  ) 
AS 
BEGIN

  DECLARE @LENSTRING INT 

  WHILE LEN( @LIST ) > 0 
     BEGIN 

        SELECT @LENSTRING = 
           (CASE CHARINDEX( @DELIMITER, @LIST ) 
               WHEN 0 THEN LEN( @LIST ) 
               ELSE ( CHARINDEX( @DELIMITER, @LIST ) -1 )
            END
           ) 

        INSERT INTO @TABLEOFVALUES 
           SELECT SUBSTRING( @LIST, 1, @LENSTRING )

        SELECT @LIST = 
           (CASE ( LEN( @LIST ) - @LENSTRING ) 
               WHEN 0 THEN '' 
               ELSE RIGHT( @LIST, LEN( @LIST ) - @LENSTRING - 1 ) 
            END
           ) 
     END

  RETURN 

END

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/38843/An-Easy-But-Effective-Way-to-Split-a-String-using