Here's an interesting quote from "Inside SQL Server 2000"

Unlike with fixed-length fields, if a variable-length field has a NULL value, it takes no room in the data row. SQL Server...

Here's an interesting quote from "Inside SQL Server 2000" on this topic:

You should put the most selective columns leftmost in the key of nonclustered indexes. For example, an index on...

In SS2K, above 4 or 5 char, it doesn't make sense to use char.

Steve, happy new year!

What do you mean by this? I think it always makes sense to use...

Dragan, you might want to read a good on DB design that can help you. I found Mike Hernandez "Database design for mere mortals" an easy-to-read introduction to this topic....

Yes, I have seen that. It's exactly what I meant with ugly T-SQL solution above.

Piggy-backing on Nitin. That's right. Here's something interesting from BOL:

Expect different results as compared to earlier versions of SQL Server. Expect the NO_LOG and TRUNCATE_ONLY clauses of the BACKUP or...

A quick search on this site (hint, hint ) returns this, which might be useful:

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/forums/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=8&messageid=7798

The second time it usually runs faster, because the execution plan is cached and reused. To start with the same condition do

DBCC DROPCLEANBUFFERS

DBCC FREEPROCCACHE

You might NOT want to do this...

Congratulations!

You've chosen two of the very best around. Never had a look at this one here http://www.chriskempster.com/ but it might also be worth a try.

Yuk, while PARSENAME is really handy, you can split only up to 4 parts. As your possible outcomes ranges from 2 to apparently 5 parts, I suspect every T-SQL solution to...

Since 200k rows are really not much at all, what means "takes forever" to you? What is the DDL for that table. Indexes... What does your statement look like?

Based on your sample data, it really seems to work with the exception of names like 'VAN HALEN EDDIE'. How many row are we talking about? Is this a one-time...

Umpf, yes that's really a serious limitation in Excel. Will see what I can dig out this evening. However, it certainly pays to have a close look at Steve's article...

I believe it to be 2 bytes in the NULL bitmap. So considering the storage situation today no big deal for the SQL Server storage engine anyway.

Just a question. You are aware that there is a built-in function in Excel that can do this quite nicely? In English I suspect it to be called "Text in...