Parsing comma seperated values using SQL CTEs

CSVParser.sql

WITH
/* Provides the seed CSV to parse, can be selected from a table */
CSVRoot AS (
    SELECT 
        '5,8,3,55,2' + ',' AS CSV,
        LEN('5,8,3,55,2' + ',') AS Length,
        NULL AS Number
),

CSVParser AS (
    /* Includes all previous data from the previous layer of recursion */
    SELECT
        CSV,
        Length,
        Number
    FROM
        CSVRoot

    UNION ALL

    /* Takes the number from the front of the csv */
    SELECT
        /* Preserves everything to the right of the first comma (the bits left to parse) */
        RIGHT(Recurse.CSV, LEN(Recurse.CSV) - CHARINDEX(',', Recurse.CSV)) AS CSV,
        /* Calculates how long the remaining CSV is (which is used for termination) */
        LEN(RIGHT(Recurse.CSV, LEN(Recurse.CSV) - CHARINDEX(',', Recurse.CSV))) AS Length,
        /* Takes the number to the left of the first comma and casts it */
        CAST(LEFT(Recurse.CSV, CHARINDEX(',', Recurse.CSV) - 1) AS INT) AS Number
    FROM
        CSVParser AS Recurse
    WHERE
        /* Recursion termination (only recurse when theres stuff in the CSV left to parse) */
        Length > 0
)

/* Query the CSV Parser */
SELECT
    MIN(Number) AS LowestValue,
    MAX(Number) AS HighestValue
FROM
    CSVParser