How to Efficiently Create Comma-Delimited Lists in SQL Server?
Jan 18, 2025 am 10:22 AMGenerating Comma-Separated Lists within SQL Server
This guide explains how to create comma-delimited lists from SQL Server tables. The methods leverage FOR XML PATH
and STUFF
for efficient list generation.
Understanding the Approach
The core technique combines FOR XML PATH('')
to extract data as a string (without XML tags) and STUFF
to replace spaces with commas. However, this approach has limitations.
Original Query Breakdown:
The original method uses FOR XML PATH('')
to obtain data as a string. The data()
alias, while seemingly an XML element, is a workaround that produces an error during XML generation, subsequently handled by the outer query. This error handling is less than ideal.
Improved Query:
A more robust solution is presented below:
SELECT E1.deptno, STUFF((SELECT ', ' + E2.ename FROM emp AS E2 WHERE E1.deptno = E2.DEPTNO FOR XML PATH('')), 1, 2, '') FROM EMP AS E1 GROUP BY DEPTNO;
This improved query directly concatenates values with commas, eliminating the error-prone XML workaround.
Advanced XML Handling:
To prevent potential issues with special XML characters, use .value
for safer XML handling:
SELECT E1.deptno, STUFF((SELECT ', ' + E2.ename FROM emp AS E2 WHERE E1.deptno = E2.DEPTNO FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE) .value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)'), 1, 2, '') FROM EMP AS E1 GROUP BY DEPTNO;
This final query offers the most reliable method for generating comma-separated lists in SQL Server, mitigating potential XML-related errors. The .value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)')
explicitly converts the XML output to a string, ensuring compatibility and preventing unexpected behavior.
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