Loop n times without using a stored procedure

Question

How can I write a loop that runs n times in MySql without using a stored procedure.

This is how I do it with a stored procedure:

DELIMITER $$
DROP PR         


        

Answer 1

As mentioned by Berd you could do it with the built in sequence but it's a bit strange:

SET @i = 1;
set @str = 'a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h';

select temp.length into @length from 
(select
        ROUND(   
            (
                LENGTH(dt.data)
                - LENGTH( REPLACE (dt.data, ",", "") ) 
            ) / LENGTH(",")        
        )+1 AS length   
     from (select @str as data) dt
 ) temp;

SET @query = CONCAT('select substring_index(
    substring_index(@str, '','', seq), 
    '','', 
    -1
  ) as letter from seq_', @i, '_to_',@length);

PREPARE q FROM @query;
EXECUTE q;