Set variable with multiple values and use IN [dupl

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Closed 8 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:
Parameterizing a SQL IN clause?

In SQL Server I'd like to do something to this effect...

DECLARE @Values varchar(1000)

SET @Values = 'A, B, C'

SELECT
  blah
FROM 
  foo
WHERE
  myField IN (@Values)

Is this possible or how to accomplish this?

Answer 1

You need a table variable:

declare @values table
(
    Value varchar(1000)
)

insert into @values values ('A')
insert into @values values ('B')
insert into @values values ('C')

select blah
from foo
where myField in (select value from @values)

Answer 2

Ideally you shouldn't be splitting strings in T-SQL at all.

Barring that change, on older versions before SQL Server 2016, create a split function:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitStrings
(
    @List      nvarchar(max), 
    @Delimiter nvarchar(2)
)
RETURNS TABLE
WITH SCHEMABINDING
AS
  RETURN ( WITH x(x) AS
    (
      SELECT CONVERT(xml, N'<root><i>' 
        + REPLACE(@List, @Delimiter, N'</i><i>') 
        + N'</i></root>')
    )
    SELECT Item = LTRIM(RTRIM(i.i.value(N'.',N'nvarchar(max)')))
      FROM x CROSS APPLY x.nodes(N'//root/i') AS i(i)
  );
GO

Now you can say:

DECLARE @Values varchar(1000);

SET @Values = 'A, B, C';

SELECT blah
  FROM dbo.foo
  INNER JOIN dbo.SplitStrings(@Values, ',') AS s
    ON s.Item = foo.myField;

On SQL Server 2016 or above (or Azure SQL Database), it is much simpler and more efficient, however you do have to manually apply LTRIM() to take away any leading spaces:

DECLARE @Values varchar(1000) = 'A, B, C';

SELECT blah
  FROM dbo.foo
  INNER JOIN STRING_SPLIT(@Values, ',') AS s
    ON LTRIM(s.value) = foo.myField;

Answer 3

Use a Temp Table or a Table variable, e.g.

select 'A' as [value]
into #tmp
union
select 'B'
union 
select 'C'

and then

SELECT   
blah 
FROM    foo 
WHERE   myField IN (select [value] from #tmp) 

or

SELECT   
f.blah 
FROM foo f INNER JOIN #tmp t ON f.myField = t.[value]