One thing I don't see anyone addressing is DRI (declared referential integrity)... AKA Foreign Key Constraints.
This information is crucial (at least IMHO) if mapping relationships between tables is part...

Here's an idea that I've been kicking around for a little while now but haven't had the chance to torture test yet...
It's one of those "not guaranteed to work...

Here's a quick test to verify...

USE tempdb;
GO

CREATE TABLE dbo.SomeTest (id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED);

WITH
    cte_n1 (n) AS (SELECT...

It is doing an index scan but it isn't doing a full index scan. It's doing a VERY limited range scan.
SQL Server knows that ID is the clustered key......

@rockys - Is it possible that the same EmpID could have multiple updates for the same column, at the same time? If so, how would you determine which...

I think you may have just picked an off day. I don't think anyone intentionally ignored your question. If people don't like how you phrased a question, they are usually...

Scott - Looking at the CleanString function... You currently have a "DELETE" option that would allow you output the "bad" characters... How important is it that you keep that functionality?