How about this? No dynamic SQL, no (explicit) loop. Just a permanent lookup table.

====================================================================

declare @dec2hex1 table (

id smallint identity(0,1),

hex1 char(1)

)

insert into @dec2hex1 (hex1)

select top 16 null from sysobjects

update @dec2hex1

set hex1 = substring('0123456789abcdef',id+1,1)

create table dec2hex (

dec smallint identity(0,1),

hex char(2)

)

insert into dec2hex (hex)

select a.hex1+b.hex1

from @dec2hex1 a cross join @dec2hex1 b

order by 1

create unique index ix_dec2hex on dec2hex (hex, dec);

create function hex2alpha (

@input varchar(256)

) returns varchar(256)

begin

declare @output varchar(256)

set @output = ''

select @output = @output + char(b.dec)

from dec2hex a, dec2hex b

where b.hex = substring(@input,a.dec*2+1,2)

order by a.dec

return @output

end

select dbo.hex2alpha('416E6E61737461736961')

============================================

Jeff, can you run a performance test for this?