Is it possible to compare comma delimited string in T-SQL without looping?

Question

Let\'s say I have 2 tables where both has column called Brand. The value is comma delimited so for example if one of the table has

ACER,ASUS,HP  
         


        

Answer 1

You are correct in wanting to step away from the loop.

Since you are on 2012, String_Split() is off the table. However, there are any number of split/parse TVF functions in-the-wild.

Example 1 - without a TVF

Declare @T1 table (Brand varchar(50))
Insert Into @T1 values 
('ACER,ASUS,HP'),
('AMD,NVIDIA,SONY')

Declare @T2 table (Brand varchar(50))
Insert Into @T2 values 
('HP,GIGABYTE'),
('MICROSOFT'),
('SAMSUNG,PHILIPS')


Select Distinct
       T1_Brand = A.Brand
      ,T2_Brand = B.Brand
 From ( 
        Select Brand,B.*
         From  @T1
         Cross Apply (
                        Select RetVal = LTrim(RTrim(B.i.value('(./text())[1]', 'varchar(max)')))
                        From  (Select x = Cast('' + replace(Brand,',','')+'' as xml)) as A 
                        Cross Apply x.nodes('x') AS B(i)
                     ) B
      ) A
 Join ( 
        Select Brand,B.*
         From  @T2
         Cross Apply (
                        Select RetVal = LTrim(RTrim(B.i.value('(./text())[1]', 'varchar(max)')))
                        From  (Select x = Cast('' + replace(Brand,',','')+'' as xml)) as A 
                        Cross Apply x.nodes('x') AS B(i)
                     ) B
      ) B
 on A.RetVal=B.RetVal

Example 2 - with a TVF

Select Distinct
       T1_Brand = A.Brand
      ,T2_Brand = B.Brand
 From ( 
        Select Brand,B.*
         From  @T1
         Cross Apply [dbo].[tvf-Str-Parse](Brand,',') B
      ) A
 Join ( 
        Select Brand,B.*
         From  @T2
         Cross Apply [dbo].[tvf-Str-Parse](Brand,',') B
      ) B
 on A.RetVal=B.RetVal

Both Would Return

T1_Brand        T2_Brand
ACER,ASUS,HP    HP,GIGABYTE

The UDF if interested

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[tvf-Str-Parse] (@String varchar(max),@Delimiter varchar(10))
Returns Table 
As
Return (  
    Select RetSeq = Row_Number() over (Order By (Select null))
          ,RetVal = LTrim(RTrim(B.i.value('(./text())[1]', 'varchar(max)')))
    From  (Select x = Cast('' + replace((Select replace(@String,@Delimiter,'§§Split§§') as [*] For XML Path('')),'§§Split§§','')+'' as xml).query('.')) as A 
    Cross Apply x.nodes('x') AS B(i)
);
--Thanks Shnugo for making this XML safe
--Select * from [dbo].[tvf-Str-Parse]('Dog,Cat,House,Car',',')
--Select * from [dbo].[tvf-Str-Parse]('John Cappelletti was here',' ')
--Select * from [dbo].[tvf-Str-Parse]('this,is,,for,< & >',',')