I work with data from a system that stores values as arrays or extents. In 2008, I created a CLR function to expose the C# split command. I tried several iteration with loops in T-SQL, etc. overtime, I have noticed the CLR as being a bit of a memory hog. 

I found this possible solution : Split a string in TSQL (without looping). 

Need to change it a bit .. 

1. Reduce the numbers table to MAX Extents position ( 80). Still populated it with 1-120.. just in case.
2. Needed it to return as an INLINE Scalar Value and not a Table Value Function. 

Here is What I Came up with from the original  Script:

/*
Adapted from Split a string in TSQL (without looping)
http://blog.magenic.com/blogs/whitneyw/archive/2008/10/08/Split-a-string-in-TSQL-_2800_without-looping_2900_.aspx
(Link no longer valid)
JCD Changes 5/2010
1. Only have need for 80 position Arrays..
So, I limited my Numbers Table to 120
2. Added a @pos INT to evaluate only one position
3. Need it to act as a SCALAR Function
and not a a Table value Funtion

*/
— ORIGINAL COMMENT
— Create and populate an auxiliary
— table of numbers

IF OBJECT_ID(‘dbo.Numbers’) IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
DROP TABLE dbo.Numbers;
END
GO
CREATE TABLE dbo.Numbers
(
number INT NOT NULL
CONSTRAINT PK_Numbers
PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
);

SET NOCOUNT ON;

DECLARE
@max AS INT,
@rc AS INT;

SET @max = 120; — you may need to set this much higher
SET @rc = 1;

BEGIN TRAN;
INSERT INTO dbo.Numbers(number) VALUES(1);

WHILE @rc * 2 <= @max BEGIN INSERT INTO dbo.Numbers(number) SELECT number + @rc FROM dbo.Numbers; SET @rc = @rc * 2; END INSERT INTO dbo.Numbers(number) SELECT number + @rc FROM dbo.Numbers WHERE number + @rc <= @max; COMMIT TRAN; GO /* --ORIGINAL COMMENT Next, we create the inline function that will do the heavy lifting for us. I've added an input for separator as hard coding the comma will almost always guarantee some other delimiter will be needed. Turned it into a scalar function */ IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.SplitString') IS NOT NULL DROP FUNCTION dbo.SplitString; GO CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitString(@arr AS VARCHAR(MAX), @sep AS CHAR(1),@pos AS INT ) RETURNS VARCHAR(60) AS BEGIN BEGIN -- SET Value DECLARE @result VARCHAR(60) -- Changed to put return one value to a variable SELECT @result = RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@arr, number, CHARINDEX(@sep, @arr + @sep, number) - number))) FROM dbo.Numbers WHERE number <= LEN(@arr) + 1 AND SUBSTRING(@sep + @arr, number, 1) = @sep AND ((number - 1) - LEN(REPLACE(LEFT(@arr, number - 1), @sep, '')) + 1) = @pos; END RETURN RTRIM(@Result) END GO /* --ORIGINAL COMMENT Finally, we call our function with a string of values. If we needed to then utilize this for filtering we could use the CROSS APPLY operator introduced in SQL 2005. */ DECLARE @arr varchar(MAX), @sep char(1), @pos INT; SELECT @arr = '1, 2, Dan, 4, Blah, %, 7, "We the people...", 9,"A string walks into a RBAR and says...", B, C' ,@sep = ',' -- Set the delimiter ,@pos = 6 -- Set the position to return -- Return Single Value SELECT dbo.SplitString(@arr, @sep, @pos) as SplitValue; SELECT dbo.SplitString(@arr, @sep, 8) as SplitValue; SELECT dbo.SplitString(@arr, @sep, 10) as SplitValue; GO