ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString] (@sep varchar(32), @s varchar(max))
RETURNS @t TABLE (
  val nvarchar(max)
)
AS
BEGIN
   DECLARE @xml xml
   SET @xml = N'<root><r>' + replace(@s, @sep, '</r><r>') + '</r></root>'



   INSERT INTO @t(val)
   SELECT r.value('.','varchar(5)') as Item
   FROM @xml.nodes('/root/r') AS records(r)

   RETURN

END

GO
SELECT * FROM [dbo].[SplitString](' ', 'hello world')