To add to Yoda and SQLBill (and without being offending in any way!!!):

You might want to read a book on the fundamentals of relational database design. It will surely save...

1) CAST and CONVERT are your friends. Do a search here and you'll find countless threads on how to get rid of the time portion in a DATETIME column. And...

Probably the "best" answer is to use one of the two generally accepted independent formats. You can read about it, for example, here:

http://www.karaszi.com/sqlserver/info_datetime.asp

This example doesn't really make sense, but I couldn't think of a better one right now

USE NORTHWIND

GO

SELECT REPLACE(STR(DATEDIFF(ss,orderdate,shippeddate) / 3600,4),' ',0)+

 ':' +

 REPLACE(STR((DATEDIFF(ss,orderdate,shippeddate) /...

You should really download BOL from the MS site and work your way through it. It's worth it!

Here are some links on indexes, that also might help you:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;814324

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;311826

Well, Rush is quite okay. Back in those days when I played bass guitar, Geddy Lee was a hero.

Ever thought of CROSS JOINing your hair?

Oops, nothing in particular. Must have overseen it while scrolling up and down. Sorry!

Congratulations!

Your method effectively ruled out the use of an index and should result in table scans. Not nice on larger tables.

Btw, BOL is also a free download.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/tsqlref/ts_fa-fz_7oqb.asp

Not sure if I understand you exactly, but see, if this helps:

http://www.karaszi.com/sqlserver/info_generate_script.asp

I would choose to have this 20 additional tables. That way you are not required to maybe put additional logic in your queries and it seems more natural and logical...

What about WHERE CHARINDEX(...)>0

The documentation of the string functions you get when you look for String Functions in BOL.

IMHO, there is neither a need for a scalar UDF (a real performance killer on larger tables) nor for a tour de force in casting, converting, reversing.... If you don't...

I like Metallica!

But if I look back now, it seems that my hair is getting shorter and fewer each time I see them. I guess I should blame it on...