Extracting values from a messy C# string array by SQL Server

Question

I need to take this kind of String and create a new table with one value per row. The string comes from a C# array that values are essentially comma-separated but the string array includes random comments (eg //AB )

{
//AB               "AB:ABLOC", "AB:ABCOM", "AB:ABSTD_DC", "AB:CMTRT"              //VAF               "VAF:VALAT", "VAF:FCSTATSP", "VAF:STATSP"
}

This is the desired output table:

 **Column:**    
        AB:ABLOC
        AB:ABCOM
        .
        .
        .
        VAF:STATSP

I don't have access to create stored procedures, tables etc, I'm just running my SQL on the client (SQL Server). Is there any sensible way I can do this?

Answer 1

If I understand your need -create tables with AB and VAF name and some columns- I can suggest you a solution like running this query:

DECLARE @ColSptr varchar(3) = '//';
DECLARE @Sql varchar(max) = '';
WITH CTE(strTemp) AS(
    SELECT SUBSTRING(@str, CHARINDEX(@ColSptr, @str, 1) + LEN(@ColSptr), LEN(@str))
    UNION ALL
    SELECT SUBSTRING(strTemp, CHARINDEX(@ColSptr, strTemp, 1) + LEN(@ColSptr), LEN(strTemp))
    FROM CTE
    WHERE CHARINDEX(@ColSptr, strTemp, 1) > 0
), colData AS (
SELECT 
    RTRIM(LTRIM(LEFT(strTemp, CHARINDEX(' ', strTemp + ' ', 1)))) AS TableName,
    RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(strTemp + @ColSptr, CHARINDEX(' ', strTemp + ' ', 1), CHARINDEX(@ColSptr, strTemp + @ColSptr, 1) - CHARINDEX(' ', strTemp + ' ', 1)))) AS ColumnNames
FROM 
    CTE
), finalColData AS (
SELECT
    TableName,
    REPLACE(REPLACE(ColumnNames, TableName + ':', ''), '"', '') AS ColumnNames
FROM
    colData
)
SELECT
    @sql = @sql + CASE WHEN @Sql <> '' THEN CHAR(13) + CHAR(10) ELSE '' END + 
        'CREATE TABLE ' + TableName + '(' + 
        '[' +REPLACE(ColumnNames , ', ', '] [varchar](10), [')  + '] [varchar](10)) ON [PRIMARY]'
FROM
    finalColData;
EXEC(@sql);