SELECT country INTO #example FROM ( SELECT N'Chinese,Japan,English,Russia' AS country Union SELECT N'Chinese,Korea' AS country ) x SELECT DISTINCT country FROM ( SELECT CAST('<v>'+REPLACE(country, ',' , '</v><v>') + '</v>' AS xml) AS countrys FROM #example ) a OUTER APPLY ( SELECT T.C.value('.','VARCHAR(100)') AS country FROM a.countrys.nodes('/v') AS T(C) ) b