ms sql xml data type convert to text
A simple cast will suffice:
select cast(XMLCol as nvarchar(max)) as XMLCol Or for non-unicode:
select cast(XMLCol as varchar(max)) as XMLCol You can't convert explicitly to a 'text' data type.
I've added the as XMLCol to ensure that the converted data has the the same name as the column. You needn't have this, of course.
EDIT:
A few links. You are encouraged to use nvarchar(max) instead of text regardless. Microsoft have said they will be deprecating these types in future releases. nvarchar(max) ought to offer you 2GB:
http://www.petefreitag.com/item/734.cfm
http://www.teratrax.com/articles/varchar_max.html
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187752(v=SQL.90).aspx
I just tried the follwing solution and yes, you do need the as XMLCol
select cast(XMLCol as nvarchar(max)) as XMLCol