Thanks Jeff.

I also found a TEMPDB (fully upper case) and a Master when I ran the code to create the million row table. If you have a chance, you might want to change that.

I always run on case sensitive servers so that I know for sure all code I write will work on all servers. (Okay, in theory I could mess up by using object names that only differ in case, but I am not THAT thick).

I don't think cursor, WHILE loop, CLR and RBAR are the only documented and guaranteed alternatives. If you have the SQL Server MVP Deep Dives book, you'll find it in my article on set-based iteration (chapter 4). If you don't have it, shame on you! All royalties go to a great charity so you ought to have at least three copies! 😛 Anyway, in this case you'll have to wait until I find the time to adapt my method to your test data, test its performance, and write a longer reply.