SQL Query for multiple value (comma separated) field

I have a survey table for which I want to count all of the "reasons" a customer is not buying from us.

Two main columns and samples are:

Survey_ID : ReasonBuying

1 : Price, Other
2 : Price, Service, Quality
3 : Service, Relationship

I want to create a report that counts each response, so how do I get these columns to:

1 : Price
1 : Other
2 : Price
2 : Service
2 : Quality
3 : Service
3 : Relationship

Please help and thank you.

Use a Split function. There are many different versions out there but below is one that I use sometimes.

SELECT Split.Value AS Reason
FROM Survey AS S
CROSS APPLY dbo.SplitText(S.ReasonBuying, ',') AS Split

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CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitText]
(
	@Text VARCHAR(MAX),
	@Delimiters VARCHAR(10)
)    
RETURNS @Words TABLE (      
	Position INT,       
	Value VARCHAR(MAX)   
	) 
AS 
BEGIN    
	SET @Text = RTRIM(@Text) 
	   
	--DECLARE @Delimiters VARCHAR(10)    
	--SET @Delimiters = ' ,:/-' 
	  
	DECLARE @Position INT, @i INT, @s VARCHAR(MAX)    
	SET @Position = 1     
	
	WHILE @Position < LEN(@Text)       
		AND CHARINDEX(SUBSTRING(@Text, @Position, 1), @Delimiters) > 0       
		SET @Position = @Position + 1     
		
		WHILE @Position <= LEN(@Text)    
		BEGIN       
			SET @i = PATINDEX('%[' + @Delimiters + ']%',          
				SUBSTRING(@Text, @Position, len(@Text) - @Position + 1))       
			IF @i > 0       
			BEGIN          
				SET @i = @i + @Position - 1          
				IF @i > @Position          
				BEGIN             
					-- @i now holds the earliest delimiter in the string            
					SET @s = SUBSTRING(@Text, @Position, @i - @Position)            
					INSERT INTO @Words             
					VALUES (@Position, @s)         
				END          
				SET @Position = @i + 1           
				WHILE @Position < LEN(@Text)             
					AND CHARINDEX(SUBSTRING(@Text, @Position, 1), @Delimiters) > 0             
					SET @Position = @Position + 1       
			END      
			ELSE       
			BEGIN         
				SET @s = SUBSTRING(@Text, @Position, LEN(@Text) - @Position + 1)         
				INSERT INTO @Words          
				VALUES (@Position, @s) SET @Position = LEN(@Text) + 1      
				
			END    
		END   
		RETURN 
	END

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LVL 34

Brian CroweDatabase AdministratorCommented: 2015-09-25

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akscottAuthor Commented: 2015-09-25

Hi Brian; thank you for taking the time. I've never actually used a function! Had to do some reading on that -- I'm mostly just a query and report kind of person. So, after doing some reading, I ran the script to create the function, then I tried customizing what you did in the top window to how I thought it fit with my stuff and I just get an error message. I think I'm missing the link in my brain as to how the function actually interacts with the query to convert the comma separated field. Can you tell me where I've gone wrong here:

Gonna do a little trouble-shooting. Run this and tell me if it works.

SELECT * FROM dbo.SplitText('a,b,c,d,e,f', ',')

That shows that the function is working correctly. verify the datatype of sysdba.accountroomsurvey.ReasonBuying. Also you will want to select Split.Value instead of ReasonBuying.

akscottAuthor Commented: 2015-09-27

Aha, now we're getting somewhere. I added an LTrim to remove the spaces that were showing up in the split results and it looks like I'm off to the races. THANK YOU, Brian.

LVL 55

Vitor MontalvãoMSSQL Senior EngineerCommented: 2015-10-02

akscott, do you still need help with this question?

akscottAuthor Commented: 2015-10-05

Thank you! Very helpful.

SQL Query for multiple value (comma separated) field

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