/*
* Extracts only the letters and numbers from a string.
* @param @inString - A nvarchar(max) string to extract letters and numbers from.
*/
create function [dbo].[ExtractAlphaNumericCharacters]
(
    @inString nvarchar(max)
)
returns nvarchar(max)
as
begin
    if( dbo.IsNullOrWhiteSpace( @inString ) = 1 )
    begin
        return null
    end
    declare @indexOfNumeric int
    set @indexOfNumeric = patindex('%[^a-zA-Z0-9]%', @inString)
    begin
        while @indexOfNumeric > 0
        begin
            set @inString = stuff(@inString, @indexOfNumeric, 1, '' )
            set @indexOfNumeric = patindex('%[^a-zA-Z0-9]%', @inString )
        end
    end
    return @inString
end
GO
GRANT EXECUTE ON  [dbo].[ExtractAlphaNumericCharacters] TO [MssExec]
GO