SOLUTION The definition of optimal can vary, but here's how to concatenate strings from different rows using regular Transact SQL, which should work fine in Azure.

In SQL Server 2017 and above, you can achieve proper case by combining STRING_SPLIT, a CTE with ROW_NUMBER to maintain word order, and STRING_AGG to reassemble the string.

SQL Server 2005 and later allow you to create your own custom aggregate functions, including for things like concatenation- see the sample at the bottom of the linked article.

Nov 2, 2015 · Using SQL Server, how do I split a string so I can access item x? Take a string "Hello John Smith". How can I split the string by space and access the item at index 1 which …

Dec 8, 2019 · I need to search an SQL Server database for all mentions of a specific string. For example, I would like to search all tables, views, functions, stored procedures, ... for string …

Dec 3, 2013 · select p.name from person p where p.name contains the character 'A'; I also want to know if I can use a function like chr(1234) where 1234 is an ASCII code instead of the 'A' …

Jul 3, 2012 · LEFT and RIGHT are SQL Server functions that do what LPAD / RPAD do. You may have a user-defined function in your DB, that would explain the slowdown.

The STRING_SPLIT function is available at compatibility level 130 or higher. If your database compatibility level is lower than 130, SQL Server will not be able to find and execute …

Possible Duplicates: Is there an Implode type function in SQL Server 2000? How can I group fields from multiple records in T-SQL by another field? I have a view which I'm querying that …

This based on several years of perusing the available string-functions in T-SQL and some pretty recent 5-day courses in SQL Server 2008 R2. Of course, I still could be wrong :).