• First, the function you have uses a cursor/while loop and it's going to be relatively slow. See the following for a couple of tips how to do it another way while avoiding some common pitfalls...

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Test+Data/61572/

    Second, to make the column a parameter would require the use of Dynamic SQL. That requires an EXEC in one form or another and only extended stored procedures can be executed with EXEC from within a function. In English, what you ask cannot be done in a function.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)