Here's another option...

declare @t table (name varchar(20))

insert @t

select 'DeBeers'

union all select 'Smith'

union all select 'debeers'

union all select 'McTavish'

union all select...

; with a as (select *, row_number() over (partition by Location order by ScanDate desc) as Row from YourTable)

select * from a where Row = 1

If you want a whole bunch of them, you should consider making use of this date function...

http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=61519

select DATE, ISO_YEAR_WEEK_NO from dbo.F_TABLE_DATE('1/1/2008', '1/1/2009')

Better still, use that function to create a permanent,...

select ltrim(year('01/01/2008')) + right('0' + ltrim(datepart(week, '01/01/2008')), 2)

What version of SQL Server are you using? What's the compatibility level on...

I can only suggest things to try. You'll then have to test them (if they are feasible) to see if they improve the performance on your system and on the...

Yep - you're spot on! 🙂

The square brackets help you look for "any single character within the specified range ([a-f]) or set ([abcdef])"

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms179859.aspx

Where did you put it?

I think it will work if you add a dot to the separator list - i.e. change all instances of '%[-( '']%' to '%[-( ''.]%' 🙂

This is a common beginners' request. You should get to grips with the following article to give you an idea of what you might be getting into...

http://www.sommarskog.se/dynamic_sql.html

Use varchar rather than text?

LOL - yes I know it's not your blog. I guess you missed the...

rhandloff (5/12/2008)

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Thanks for all the solutions! I don't know if I will have time to adequately test them all as I'm under a pretty intensive deadline but just from a...

😛

It sure is, but if it's the fastest method, who cares? 🙂

It's something else to try, anyway, and I'm interested...

I don't understand how the values are derived in your example, but perhaps you want something like this?

declare @t table (TimCol varchar(3), Col2 varchar(10))

insert @t

...