Retrieving multiple xml child node values

Question

I have a column of type varchar(max) populated with xml nodes and values; as an example, the column data starts with value1

Answer 1

Cast the column to XML (or change it in the table to XML) and shred the xml on //* to get all nodes in a table. Then you can use for xml path to concat the values back together.

select (
       select ' '+X.N.value('text()[1]', 'varchar(max)')
       from (select cast(T.XMLCol as xml)) as T1(XMLCol)
         cross apply T1.XMLCol.nodes('//*') as X(N)
       for xml path(''), type
       ).value('substring(text()[1], 2)', 'varchar(max)')
from T

SQL Fiddle