How to generate a range of numbers between two numbers?

Question

I have two numbers as input from the user, like for example 1000 and 1050.

How do I generate the numbers between these two numbers, using

Answer 1

This will also do

DECLARE @startNum INT = 1000;
DECLARE @endNum INT = 1050;
INSERT  INTO dbo.Numbers
        ( Num
        )
        SELECT  CASE WHEN MAX(Num) IS NULL  THEN @startNum
                     ELSE MAX(Num) + 1
                END AS Num
        FROM    dbo.Numbers
GO 51

Answer 2

Here's what I came up with:

create or alter function dbo.fn_range(@start int, @end int)  returns table
return
with u2(n) as (
    select n 
    from (VALUES (0),(1),(2),(3)) v(n)
), 
u8(n) as (
    select
        x0.n | x1.n * 4 | x2.n * 16 | x3.n * 64 as n
    from u2 x0, u2 x1, u2 x2, u2 x3
)
select 
    @start + s.n as n
from (
    select
        x0.n | isnull(x1.n, 0) * 256 | isnull(x2.n, 0) * 65536 as n
    from u8 x0 
    left join u8 x1 on @end-@start > 256
    left join u8 x2 on @end-@start > 65536
) s
where s.n < @end - @start

Generates up to 2^24 values. Join conditions keep it fast for small values.

Answer 3

slartidan's answer can be improved, performance wise, by eliminating all references to the cartesian product and using ROW_NUMBER() instead (execution plan compared):

SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) AS n FROM 
(VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x1(x),
(VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x2(x),
(VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x3(x),
(VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x4(x),
(VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x5(x)
ORDER BY n

Wrap it inside a CTE and add a where clause to select desired numbers:

DECLARE @n1 AS INT = 100;
DECLARE @n2 AS INT = 40099;
WITH numbers AS (
    SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) AS n FROM 
    (VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x1(x),
    (VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x2(x),
    (VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x3(x),
    (VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x4(x),
    (VALUES(0),(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(9)) x5(x)
)
SELECT numbers.n
FROM numbers
WHERE n BETWEEN @n1 and @n2
ORDER BY n

Answer 4

SELECT DISTINCT n = number 
FROM master..[spt_values] 
WHERE number BETWEEN @start AND @end

Demo

Note that this table has a maximum of 2048 because then the numbers have gaps.

Here's a slightly better approach using a system view(since from SQL-Server 2005):

;WITH Nums AS
(
  SELECT n = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY [object_id]) 
  FROM sys.all_objects 

)
SELECT n FROM Nums 
WHERE n BETWEEN @start AND @end
ORDER BY n;

Demo

or use a custom a number-table. Credits to Aaron Bertrand, i suggest to read the whole article: Generate a set or sequence without loops

Answer 5

an alternative solution is recursive CTE:

DECLARE @startnum INT=1000
DECLARE @endnum INT=1050
;
WITH gen AS (
    SELECT @startnum AS num
    UNION ALL
    SELECT num+1 FROM gen WHERE num+1<=@endnum
)
SELECT * FROM gen
option (maxrecursion 10000)

Answer 6

It work for me !

select top 50 ROW_NUMBER() over(order by a.name) + 1000 as Rcount
from sys.all_objects a