CREATE TABLE dbo.Tally 
        (N INT)
         
-- Default Data
-- Taken from the following website:
-- http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/TSQL/62867/
--=============================================================================
--      Create and populate a Tally table
--=============================================================================
--===== Conditionally drop 
     IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.Tally') IS NOT NULL 
        DROP TABLE dbo.Tally

--===== Create and populate the Tally table on the fly
 SELECT TOP 3000000 --equates to more than 30 years of dates
        IDENTITY(INT,1,1) AS N
   INTO dbo.Tally
   FROM Master.dbo.SysColumns sc1,
        Master.dbo.SysColumns sc2

--===== Add a Primary Key to maximize performance
  ALTER TABLE dbo.Tally
    ADD CONSTRAINT PK_Tally_N 
        PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (N) WITH FILLFACTOR = 100

--===== Let the public use it
  GRANT SELECT, REFERENCES ON dbo.Tally TO PUBLIC
GO
CREATE FUNCTION udf_StrList2Table (
   @List NVARCHAR(MAX) = N'',
   @Delimiter NCHAR(1) = N','
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN 
SELECT SUBSTRING( @Delimiter + @List + @Delimiter, n + 1,
                CHARINDEX( @Delimiter, @Delimiter + @List + @Delimiter, n + 1 ) - n - 1 ) AS Value,                
           ROW_NUMBER() OVER ( ORDER BY n ) AS ListPos
      FROM Tally
     WHERE SUBSTRING( @Delimiter + @List + @Delimiter, n, 1 ) = @Delimiter
       AND n < CAST(LEN( @Delimiter + @List + @Delimiter ) as int)

declare @i int = 26, @x varchar(max) = '', @d char(1) = ' ', @j int;
declare @t table (id tinyint primary key, tokens int, which varchar(32), start datetime, finish datetime);
--Note: this is going to take a while, so if you want to run this more than once, store this data somewhere...
set @j = @i*@i;
while @j > 0 BEGIN
while @i > 0 BEGIN
 set @x = @x + @d +CHAR(91 - @i);
 set @i = @i - 1;
END
set @j = @j - 1;
set @i = 26
END

declare @c int;
insert into @t (id,which,start) values (1,'fnStringSplit_2005_Distinct_CHAR',getdate());
select @c = COUNT(*) from ..[fnStringSplit_2005_Distinct_CHAR](@x,@d);
update @t set tokens = @c, finish = GETDATE() where id = 1;
insert into @t (id,which,start) values (2,'udf_StrList2Table',getdate());
select @c = COUNT(*) from ..[udf_StrList2Table] (@x,@d)
update @t set tokens = @c, finish = GETDATE() where id = 2;
insert into @t (id,which,start) values (3,'fn_Split',getdate());
select @c = COUNT(*) from ..[fn_Split](@x,@d)
update @t set tokens = @c, finish = GETDATE() where id = 3;
select *, CONVERT(float, finish) - convert(float,start) as runtime from @t;

declare @i int = 26, @x varchar(max) = '', @d char(1) = ' ', @j int;
declare @t table (id tinyint primary key, tokens int, which varchar(32), start datetime, finish datetime);
set @j = @i;
while @j > 0 BEGIN
while @i > 0 BEGIN
 set @x = @x + @d +CHAR(91 - @i);
 set @i = @i - 1;
END
set @j = @j - 1;
set @i = 26
END
set @x = LEFT(@x,100)

declare @c int;
insert into @t (id,which,start) values (0,'fnStringSplit_CTE',getdate());
select @c = COUNT(*) from ..[fnStringSplit_CTE](@x,@d)
update @t set tokens = @c, finish = GETDATE() where id = 0;
insert into @t (id,which,start) values (1,'fnStringSplit_2005_Distinct_CHAR',getdate());
select @c = COUNT(*) from ..[fnStringSplit_2005_Distinct_CHAR](@x,@d);
update @t set tokens = @c, finish = GETDATE() where id = 1;
insert into @t (id,which,start) values (2,'udf_StrList2Table',getdate());
select @c = COUNT(*) from ..[udf_StrList2Table] (@x,@d)
update @t set tokens = @c, finish = GETDATE() where id = 2;
insert into @t (id,which,start) values (3,'fn_Split',getdate());
select @c = COUNT(*) from ..[fn_Split](@x,@d)
update @t set tokens = @c, finish = GETDATE() where id = 3;
select *, CONVERT(float, finish) - convert(float,start) as runtime from @t;

DECLARE @table TABLE (token VARCHAR(max));
INSERT INTO @table VALUES ('xyz'),('pdq'),('abc'),('123')
DECLARE @joined VARCHAR(max)
SELECT @joined=COALESCE(@joined+',', '')+token FROM @table
SELECT @joined