Here is my problem.

I want to have a field in a database the will hold a string that resembles parameters for the IN. For example, the cell would contain

" 'a','b','c' "

I want to store this information into a variable and then in my sql statement, using it as the parameter for the IN function. Here's a look at the whole picture.

@variable = SELECT field1 FROM temp
(@variable now contains 'a','b','c')

SELECT * FROM temp2 WHERE letters IN (@variable)

This works if there is only one item in the field and there are no single quotes around it. I haven't been able to figure out how this can be done using single quotes around a single item or multiple items like in my example.

Thanks in advance
Andy

I've found this post

http://www.dbforums.com/t988076.html

but this is not what i need because i'm planning on using the results from the query in a WHERE clause of another query.

i.e.

SELECT * FROM table WHERE column IN (SELECT column FROM temp WHERE letters IN (@variable))

Have you considered normalizing your design so that the values 'a', 'b', 'c' are stored in separate rows?

Try something like this:

Code:

DECLARE @variable TABLE (f1 VARCHAR(1))
INSERT INTO @variable SELECT field1 FROM temp
SELECT * FROM temp2 WHERE letters IN (SELECT * FROM @variable)