Split 1 column into multiple columns

Question

Hi
How can we acheive this in Sql:
Col 1
abc def ghi jkl
convert to:
Col 1
Col 2
Col 3
Col 4
abc
def
ghi
jkl
Royal Thomas

Answer 1

The best approach is to NOT split them out into individual columns... It violates the 1st normal form...
Under first normal form, all occurrences of a record[sic] type must contain the same number of fields[sic].
First normal form excludes variable repeating fields[sic] and groups.
The better approach is to split them into rows, in their own table, with a foreign key reference back to the table you are pulling them away from.
If you check my 1st post you'll see that I split the string with a function. That same a function can be used to populate the new table.
Something along these lines...
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#BadOldDesign') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE #BadOldDesign;
CREATE TABLE #BadOldDesign (
ID INT NOT NULL IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
ListOfCodes VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
INSERT #BadOldDesign (ListOfCodes) VALUES
('abc htr tbj yfd hjk mth'),
('bbb hyt tbj vyk hjk htd'),
('vvv nud'),
('yyy hyn tbj bdr '),
('htr htf tbj yfd hjk mko'),
('kio bhn tbj bjd hjk'),
('byd loj tbj yfd hjk cds');
SELECT * FROM #BadOldDesign bod
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#ShinyNewTable') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE #ShinyNewTable;
SELECT
bod.ID,
sc8.ItemNumber,
sc8.Item
INTO #ShinyNewTable
FROM
#BadOldDesign bod
CROSS APPLY dbo.SplitCSVToTable8K(bod.ListOfCodes, ' ') sc8;
ALTER TABLE #ShinyNewTable ALTER COLUMN id INT NOT NULL;
GO
ALTER TABLE #ShinyNewTable ALTER COLUMN ItemNumber INT NOT NULL;
GO
ALTER TABLE #ShinyNewTable ADD CONSTRAINT pk_ShinyNewTable PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (ID, ItemNumber);
SELECT * FROM #ShinyNewTable snt
The dbo.SplitCSVToTable8K function that I'm using can be found here... http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/
HTH,
Jason
Jason Long