How do I split a string so I can access item x?
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2647
-
08-06-2019 - |
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Using SQL Server, how do I split a string so I can access item x?
Take a string "Hello John Smith". How can I split the string by space and access the item at index 1 which should return "John"?
Solution
You may find the solution in SQL User Defined Function to Parse a Delimited String helpful (from The Code Project).
You can use this simple logic:
Declare @products varchar(200) = '1|20|3|343|44|6|8765'
Declare @individual varchar(20) = null
WHILE LEN(@products) > 0
BEGIN
IF PATINDEX('%|%', @products) > 0
BEGIN
SET @individual = SUBSTRING(@products,
0,
PATINDEX('%|%', @products))
SELECT @individual
SET @products = SUBSTRING(@products,
LEN(@individual + '|') + 1,
LEN(@products))
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SET @individual = @products
SET @products = NULL
SELECT @individual
END
END
OTHER TIPS
I don't believe SQL Server has a built-in split function, so other than a UDF, the only other answer I know is to hijack the PARSENAME function:
SELECT PARSENAME(REPLACE('Hello John Smith', ' ', '.'), 2)
PARSENAME takes a string and splits it on the period character. It takes a number as its second argument, and that number specifies which segment of the string to return (working from back to front).
SELECT PARSENAME(REPLACE('Hello John Smith', ' ', '.'), 3) --return Hello
Obvious problem is when the string already contains a period. I still think using a UDF is the best way...any other suggestions?
First, create a function (using CTE, common table expression does away with the need for a temp table)
create function dbo.SplitString
(
@str nvarchar(4000),
@separator char(1)
)
returns table
AS
return (
with tokens(p, a, b) AS (
select
1,
1,
charindex(@separator, @str)
union all
select
p + 1,
b + 1,
charindex(@separator, @str, b + 1)
from tokens
where b > 0
)
select
p-1 zeroBasedOccurance,
substring(
@str,
a,
case when b > 0 then b-a ELSE 4000 end)
AS s
from tokens
)
GO
Then, use it as any table (or modify it to fit within your existing stored proc) like this.
select s
from dbo.SplitString('Hello John Smith', ' ')
where zeroBasedOccurance=1
Update
Previous version would fail for input string longer than 4000 chars. This version takes care of the limitation:
create function dbo.SplitString
(
@str nvarchar(max),
@separator char(1)
)
returns table
AS
return (
with tokens(p, a, b) AS (
select
cast(1 as bigint),
cast(1 as bigint),
charindex(@separator, @str)
union all
select
p + 1,
b + 1,
charindex(@separator, @str, b + 1)
from tokens
where b > 0
)
select
p-1 ItemIndex,
substring(
@str,
a,
case when b > 0 then b-a ELSE LEN(@str) end)
AS s
from tokens
);
GO
Usage remains the same.
Most of the solutions here use while loops or recursive CTEs. A set-based approach will be superior, I promise:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString]
(
@List NVARCHAR(MAX),
@Delim VARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN ( SELECT [Value] FROM
(
SELECT
[Value] = LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@List, [Number],
CHARINDEX(@Delim, @List + @Delim, [Number]) - [Number])))
FROM (SELECT Number = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY name)
FROM sys.all_objects) AS x
WHERE Number <= LEN(@List)
AND SUBSTRING(@Delim + @List, [Number], LEN(@Delim)) = @Delim
) AS y
);
More on split functions, why (and proof that) while loops and recursive CTEs don't scale, and better alternatives, if splitting strings coming from the application layer:
- Split strings the right way – or the next best way
- Splitting Strings : A Follow-Up
- Splitting Strings : Now with less T-SQL
- Comparing string splitting / concatenation methods
- Processing a list of integers : my approach
- Splitting a list of integers : another roundup
- More on splitting lists : custom delimiters, preventing duplicates, and maintaining order
- Removing Duplicates from Strings in SQL Server
On SQL Server 2016 or above, though, you should look at STRING_SPLIT() and STRING_AGG():
You can leverage a Number table to do the string parsing.
Create a physical numbers table:
create table dbo.Numbers (N int primary key);
insert into dbo.Numbers
select top 1000 row_number() over(order by number) from master..spt_values
go
Create test table with 1000000 rows
create table #yak (i int identity(1,1) primary key, array varchar(50))
insert into #yak(array)
select 'a,b,c' from dbo.Numbers n cross join dbo.Numbers nn
go
Create the function
create function [dbo].[ufn_ParseArray]
( @Input nvarchar(4000),
@Delimiter char(1) = ',',
@BaseIdent int
)
returns table as
return
( select row_number() over (order by n asc) + (@BaseIdent - 1) [i],
substring(@Input, n, charindex(@Delimiter, @Input + @Delimiter, n) - n) s
from dbo.Numbers
where n <= convert(int, len(@Input)) and
substring(@Delimiter + @Input, n, 1) = @Delimiter
)
go
Usage (outputs 3mil rows in 40s on my laptop)
select *
from #yak
cross apply dbo.ufn_ParseArray(array, ',', 1)
cleanup
drop table dbo.Numbers;
drop function [dbo].[ufn_ParseArray]
Performance here is not amazing, but calling a function over a million row table is not the best idea. If performing a string split over many rows I would avoid the function.
This question is not about a string split approach, but about how to get the nth element.
All answers here are doing some kind of string splitting using recursion, CTEs, multiple CHARINDEX, REVERSE and PATINDEX, inventing functions, call for CLR methods, number tables, CROSS APPLYs ... Most answers cover many lines of code.
But - if you really want nothing more than an approach to get the nth element - this can be done as real one-liner, no UDF, not even a sub-select... And as an extra benefit: type safe
Get part 2 delimited by a space:
DECLARE @input NVARCHAR(100)=N'part1 part2 part3';
SELECT CAST(N'<x>' + REPLACE(@input,N' ',N'</x><x>') + N'</x>' AS XML).value('/x[2]','nvarchar(max)')
Of course you can use variables for delimiter and position (use sql:column to retrieve the position directly from a query's value):
DECLARE @dlmt NVARCHAR(10)=N' ';
DECLARE @pos INT = 2;
SELECT CAST(N'<x>' + REPLACE(@input,@dlmt,N'</x><x>') + N'</x>' AS XML).value('/x[sql:variable("@pos")][1]','nvarchar(max)')
If your string might include forbidden characters (especially one among &><), you still can do it this way. Just use FOR XML PATH on your string first to replace all forbidden characters with the fitting escape sequence implicitly.
It's a very special case if - additionally - your delimiter is the semicolon. In this case I replace the delimiter first to '#DLMT#', and replace this to the XML tags finally:
SET @input=N'Some <, > and &;Other äöü@€;One more';
SET @dlmt=N';';
SELECT CAST(N'<x>' + REPLACE((SELECT REPLACE(@input,@dlmt,'#DLMT#') AS [*] FOR XML PATH('')),N'#DLMT#',N'</x><x>') + N'</x>' AS XML).value('/x[sql:variable("@pos")][1]','nvarchar(max)');
UPDATE for SQL-Server 2016+
Regretfully the developers forgot to return the part's index with STRING_SPLIT. But, using SQL-Server 2016+, there is OPENJSON.
The documentation states clearly:
When OPENJSON parses a JSON array, the function returns the indexes of the elements in the JSON text as keys.
A string like 1,2,3 needs nothing more than brackets: [1,2,3].
A string of words like this is an example needs to be ["this","is","an"," example"].
These are very easy string operations. Just try it out:
DECLARE @str VARCHAR(100)='Hello John Smith';
SELECT [value]
FROM OPENJSON('["' + REPLACE(@str,' ','","') + '"]')
WHERE [key]=1 --zero-based!
Here is a UDF which will do it. It will return a table of the delimited values, haven't tried all scenarios on it but your example works fine.
CREATE FUNCTION SplitString
(
-- Add the parameters for the function here
@myString varchar(500),
@deliminator varchar(10)
)
RETURNS
@ReturnTable TABLE
(
-- Add the column definitions for the TABLE variable here
[id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[part] [varchar](50) NULL
)
AS
BEGIN
Declare @iSpaces int
Declare @part varchar(50)
--initialize spaces
Select @iSpaces = charindex(@deliminator,@myString,0)
While @iSpaces > 0
Begin
Select @part = substring(@myString,0,charindex(@deliminator,@myString,0))
Insert Into @ReturnTable(part)
Select @part
Select @myString = substring(@mystring,charindex(@deliminator,@myString,0)+ len(@deliminator),len(@myString) - charindex(' ',@myString,0))
Select @iSpaces = charindex(@deliminator,@myString,0)
end
If len(@myString) > 0
Insert Into @ReturnTable
Select @myString
RETURN
END
GO
You would call it like this:
Select * From SplitString('Hello John Smith',' ')
Edit: Updated solution to handle delimters with a len>1 as in :
select * From SplitString('Hello**John**Smith','**')
Here I post a simple way of solution
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[split](
@delimited NVARCHAR(MAX),
@delimiter NVARCHAR(100)
) RETURNS @t TABLE (id INT IDENTITY(1,1), val NVARCHAR(MAX))
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @xml XML
SET @xml = N'<t>' + REPLACE(@delimited,@delimiter,'</t><t>') + '</t>'
INSERT INTO @t(val)
SELECT r.value('.','varchar(MAX)') as item
FROM @xml.nodes('/t') as records(r)
RETURN
END
Execute the function like this
select * from dbo.split('Hello John Smith',' ')
In my opinion you guys are making it way too complicated. Just create a CLR UDF and be done with it.
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
using System.Collections.Generic;
public partial class UserDefinedFunctions {
[SqlFunction]
public static SqlString SearchString(string Search) {
List<string> SearchWords = new List<string>();
foreach (string s in Search.Split(new char[] { ' ' })) {
if (!s.ToLower().Equals("or") && !s.ToLower().Equals("and")) {
SearchWords.Add(s);
}
}
return new SqlString(string.Join(" OR ", SearchWords.ToArray()));
}
};
What about using string and values() statement?
DECLARE @str varchar(max)
SET @str = 'Hello John Smith'
DECLARE @separator varchar(max)
SET @separator = ' '
DECLARE @Splited TABLE(id int IDENTITY(1,1), item varchar(max))
SET @str = REPLACE(@str, @separator, '''),(''')
SET @str = 'SELECT * FROM (VALUES(''' + @str + ''')) AS V(A)'
INSERT INTO @Splited
EXEC(@str)
SELECT * FROM @Splited
Result-set achieved.
id item
1 Hello
2 John
3 Smith
I use the answer of frederic but this did not work in SQL Server 2005
I modified it and I'm using select with union all and it works
DECLARE @str varchar(max)
SET @str = 'Hello John Smith how are you'
DECLARE @separator varchar(max)
SET @separator = ' '
DECLARE @Splited table(id int IDENTITY(1,1), item varchar(max))
SET @str = REPLACE(@str, @separator, ''' UNION ALL SELECT ''')
SET @str = ' SELECT ''' + @str + ''' '
INSERT INTO @Splited
EXEC(@str)
SELECT * FROM @Splited
And the result-set is:
id item
1 Hello
2 John
3 Smith
4 how
5 are
6 you
This pattern works fine and you can generalize
Convert(xml,'<n>'+Replace(FIELD,'.','</n><n>')+'</n>').value('(/n[INDEX])','TYPE')
^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^
note FIELD, INDEX and TYPE.
Let some table with identifiers like
sys.message.1234.warning.A45
sys.message.1235.error.O98
....
Then, you can write
SELECT Source = q.value('(/n[1])', 'varchar(10)'),
RecordType = q.value('(/n[2])', 'varchar(20)'),
RecordNumber = q.value('(/n[3])', 'int'),
Status = q.value('(/n[4])', 'varchar(5)')
FROM (
SELECT q = Convert(xml,'<n>'+Replace(fieldName,'.','</n><n>')+'</n>')
FROM some_TABLE
) Q
splitting and casting all parts.
If your database has compatibility level of 130 or higher then you can use the STRING_SPLIT function along with OFFSET FETCH clauses to get the specific item by index.
To get the item at index N (zero based), you can use the following code
SELECT value
FROM STRING_SPLIT('Hello John Smith',' ')
ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)
OFFSET N ROWS
FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY
To check the compatibility level of your database, execute this code:
SELECT compatibility_level
FROM sys.databases WHERE name = 'YourDBName';
I was looking for the solution on net and the below works for me. Ref.
And you call the function like this :
SELECT * FROM dbo.split('ram shyam hari gopal',' ')
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[Split](@String VARCHAR(8000), @Delimiter CHAR(1))
RETURNS @temptable TABLE (items VARCHAR(8000))
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @idx INT
DECLARE @slice VARCHAR(8000)
SELECT @idx = 1
IF len(@String)<1 OR @String IS NULL RETURN
WHILE @idx!= 0
BEGIN
SET @idx = charindex(@Delimiter,@String)
IF @idx!=0
SET @slice = LEFT(@String,@idx - 1)
ELSE
SET @slice = @String
IF(len(@slice)>0)
INSERT INTO @temptable(Items) VALUES(@slice)
SET @String = RIGHT(@String,len(@String) - @idx)
IF len(@String) = 0 break
END
RETURN
END
Yet another get n'th part of string by delimeter function:
create function GetStringPartByDelimeter (
@value as nvarchar(max),
@delimeter as nvarchar(max),
@position as int
) returns NVARCHAR(MAX)
AS BEGIN
declare @startPos as int
declare @endPos as int
set @endPos = -1
while (@position > 0 and @endPos != 0) begin
set @startPos = @endPos + 1
set @endPos = charindex(@delimeter, @value, @startPos)
if(@position = 1) begin
if(@endPos = 0)
set @endPos = len(@value) + 1
return substring(@value, @startPos, @endPos - @startPos)
end
set @position = @position - 1
end
return null
end
and the usage:
select dbo.GetStringPartByDelimeter ('a;b;c;d;e', ';', 3)
which returns:
c
Try this:
CREATE function [SplitWordList]
(
@list varchar(8000)
)
returns @t table
(
Word varchar(50) not null,
Position int identity(1,1) not null
)
as begin
declare
@pos int,
@lpos int,
@item varchar(100),
@ignore varchar(100),
@dl int,
@a1 int,
@a2 int,
@z1 int,
@z2 int,
@n1 int,
@n2 int,
@c varchar(1),
@a smallint
select
@a1 = ascii('a'),
@a2 = ascii('A'),
@z1 = ascii('z'),
@z2 = ascii('Z'),
@n1 = ascii('0'),
@n2 = ascii('9')
set @ignore = '''"'
set @pos = 1
set @dl = datalength(@list)
set @lpos = 1
set @item = ''
while (@pos <= @dl) begin
set @c = substring(@list, @pos, 1)
if (@ignore not like '%' + @c + '%') begin
set @a = ascii(@c)
if ((@a >= @a1) and (@a <= @z1))
or ((@a >= @a2) and (@a <= @z2))
or ((@a >= @n1) and (@a <= @n2))
begin
set @item = @item + @c
end else if (@item > '') begin
insert into @t values (@item)
set @item = ''
end
end
set @pos = @pos + 1
end
if (@item > '') begin
insert into @t values (@item)
end
return
end
Test it like this:
select * from SplitWordList('Hello John Smith')
The following example uses a recursive CTE
Update 18.09.2013
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitStrings_CTE(@List nvarchar(max), @Delimiter nvarchar(1))
RETURNS @returns TABLE (val nvarchar(max), [level] int, PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED([level]))
AS
BEGIN
;WITH cte AS
(
SELECT SUBSTRING(@List, 0, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @List + @Delimiter)) AS val,
CAST(STUFF(@List + @Delimiter, 1, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @List + @Delimiter), '') AS nvarchar(max)) AS stval,
1 AS [level]
UNION ALL
SELECT SUBSTRING(stval, 0, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, stval)),
CAST(STUFF(stval, 1, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, stval), '') AS nvarchar(max)),
[level] + 1
FROM cte
WHERE stval != ''
)
INSERT @returns
SELECT REPLACE(val, ' ','' ) AS val, [level]
FROM cte
WHERE val > ''
RETURN
END
Demo on SQLFiddle
Alter Function dbo.fn_Split
(
@Expression nvarchar(max),
@Delimiter nvarchar(20) = ',',
@Qualifier char(1) = Null
)
RETURNS @Results TABLE (id int IDENTITY(1,1), value nvarchar(max))
AS
BEGIN
/* USAGE
Select * From dbo.fn_Split('apple pear grape banana orange honeydew cantalope 3 2 1 4', ' ', Null)
Select * From dbo.fn_Split('1,abc,"Doe, John",4', ',', '"')
Select * From dbo.fn_Split('Hello 0,"&""&&&&', ',', '"')
*/
-- Declare Variables
DECLARE
@X xml,
@Temp nvarchar(max),
@Temp2 nvarchar(max),
@Start int,
@End int
-- HTML Encode @Expression
Select @Expression = (Select @Expression For XML Path(''))
-- Find all occurences of @Delimiter within @Qualifier and replace with |||***|||
While PATINDEX('%' + @Qualifier + '%', @Expression) > 0 AND Len(IsNull(@Qualifier, '')) > 0
BEGIN
Select
-- Starting character position of @Qualifier
@Start = PATINDEX('%' + @Qualifier + '%', @Expression),
-- @Expression starting at the @Start position
@Temp = SubString(@Expression, @Start + 1, LEN(@Expression)-@Start+1),
-- Next position of @Qualifier within @Expression
@End = PATINDEX('%' + @Qualifier + '%', @Temp) - 1,
-- The part of Expression found between the @Qualifiers
@Temp2 = Case When @End < 0 Then @Temp Else Left(@Temp, @End) End,
-- New @Expression
@Expression = REPLACE(@Expression,
@Qualifier + @Temp2 + Case When @End < 0 Then '' Else @Qualifier End,
Replace(@Temp2, @Delimiter, '|||***|||')
)
END
-- Replace all occurences of @Delimiter within @Expression with '</fn_Split><fn_Split>'
-- And convert it to XML so we can select from it
SET
@X = Cast('<fn_Split>' +
Replace(@Expression, @Delimiter, '</fn_Split><fn_Split>') +
'</fn_Split>' as xml)
-- Insert into our returnable table replacing '|||***|||' back to @Delimiter
INSERT @Results
SELECT
"Value" = LTRIM(RTrim(Replace(C.value('.', 'nvarchar(max)'), '|||***|||', @Delimiter)))
FROM
@X.nodes('fn_Split') as X(C)
-- Return our temp table
RETURN
END
I know it's an old Question, but i think some one can benefit from my solution.
select
SUBSTRING(column_name,1,CHARINDEX(' ',column_name,1)-1)
,SUBSTRING(SUBSTRING(column_name,CHARINDEX(' ',column_name,1)+1,LEN(column_name))
,1
,CHARINDEX(' ',SUBSTRING(column_name,CHARINDEX(' ',column_name,1)+1,LEN(column_name)),1)-1)
,SUBSTRING(SUBSTRING(column_name,CHARINDEX(' ',column_name,1)+1,LEN(column_name))
,CHARINDEX(' ',SUBSTRING(column_name,CHARINDEX(' ',column_name,1)+1,LEN(column_name)),1)+1
,LEN(column_name))
from table_name
Advantages:
- It separates all the 3 sub-strings deliminator by ' '.
- One must not use while loop, as it decreases the performance.
- No need to Pivot as all the resultant sub-string will be displayed in one Row
Limitations:
- One must know the total no. of spaces (sub-string).
Note: the solution can give sub-string up to to N.
To overcame the limitation we can use the following ref.
But again the above solution can't be use in a table (Actaully i wasn't able to use it).
Again i hope this solution can help some-one.
Update: In case of Records > 50000 it is not advisable to use LOOPS as it will degrade the Performance
Almost all the other answers split code are replacing the string being split which wastes CPU cycles and performs unnecessary memory allocations.
I cover a much better way to do a string split here: http://www.digitalruby.com/split-string-sql-server/
Here is the code:
SET NOCOUNT ON
-- You will want to change nvarchar(MAX) to nvarchar(50), varchar(50) or whatever matches exactly with the string column you will be searching against
DECLARE @SplitStringTable TABLE (Value nvarchar(MAX) NOT NULL)
DECLARE @StringToSplit nvarchar(MAX) = 'your|string|to|split|here'
DECLARE @SplitEndPos int
DECLARE @SplitValue nvarchar(MAX)
DECLARE @SplitDelim nvarchar(1) = '|'
DECLARE @SplitStartPos int = 1
SET @SplitEndPos = CHARINDEX(@SplitDelim, @StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos)
WHILE @SplitEndPos > 0
BEGIN
SET @SplitValue = SUBSTRING(@StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos, (@SplitEndPos - @SplitStartPos))
INSERT @SplitStringTable (Value) VALUES (@SplitValue)
SET @SplitStartPos = @SplitEndPos + 1
SET @SplitEndPos = CHARINDEX(@SplitDelim, @StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos)
END
SET @SplitValue = SUBSTRING(@StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos, 2147483647)
INSERT @SplitStringTable (Value) VALUES(@SplitValue)
SET NOCOUNT OFF
-- You can select or join with the values in @SplitStringTable at this point.
You can split a string in SQL without needing a function:
DECLARE @bla varchar(MAX)
SET @bla = 'BED40DFC-F468-46DD-8017-00EF2FA3E4A4,64B59FC5-3F4D-4B0E-9A48-01F3D4F220B0,A611A108-97CA-42F3-A2E1-057165339719,E72D95EA-578F-45FC-88E5-075F66FD726C'
-- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14712864/how-to-query-values-from-xml-nodes
SELECT
x.XmlCol.value('.', 'varchar(36)') AS val
FROM
(
SELECT
CAST('<e>' + REPLACE(@bla, ',', '</e><e>') + '</e>' AS xml) AS RawXml
) AS b
CROSS APPLY b.RawXml.nodes('e') x(XmlCol);
If you need to support arbitrary strings (with xml special characters)
DECLARE @bla NVARCHAR(MAX)
SET @bla = '<html>unsafe & safe Utf8CharsDon''tGetEncoded ÄöÜ - "Conex"<html>,Barnes & Noble,abc,def,ghi'
-- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14712864/how-to-query-values-from-xml-nodes
SELECT
x.XmlCol.value('.', 'nvarchar(MAX)') AS val
FROM
(
SELECT
CAST('<e>' + REPLACE((SELECT @bla FOR XML PATH('')), ',', '</e><e>') + '</e>' AS xml) AS RawXml
) AS b
CROSS APPLY b.RawXml.nodes('e') x(XmlCol);
Pure set-based solution using TVF with recursive CTE. You can JOIN and APPLY this function to any dataset.
create function [dbo].[SplitStringToResultSet] (@value varchar(max), @separator char(1))
returns table
as return
with r as (
select value, cast(null as varchar(max)) [x], -1 [no] from (select rtrim(cast(@value as varchar(max))) [value]) as j
union all
select right(value, len(value)-case charindex(@separator, value) when 0 then len(value) else charindex(@separator, value) end) [value]
, left(r.[value], case charindex(@separator, r.value) when 0 then len(r.value) else abs(charindex(@separator, r.[value])-1) end ) [x]
, [no] + 1 [no]
from r where value > '')
select ltrim(x) [value], [no] [index] from r where x is not null;
go
Usage:
select *
from [dbo].[SplitStringToResultSet]('Hello John Smith', ' ')
where [index] = 1;
Result:
value index
-------------
John 1
Starting with SQL Server 2016 we string_split
DECLARE @string varchar(100) = 'Richard, Mike, Mark'
SELECT value FROM string_split(@string, ',')
A modern approach using STRING_SPLIT, requires SQL Server 2016 and above.
DECLARE @string varchar(100) = 'Hello John Smith'
SELECT
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY value) AS RowNr,
value
FROM string_split(@string, ' ')
Result:
RowNr value
1 Hello
2 John
3 Smith
Now it is possible to get th nth element from the row number.
Aaron Bertrand's answer is great, but flawed. It doesn't accurately handle a space as a delimiter (as was the example in the original question) since the length function strips trailing spaces.
The following is his code, with a small adjustment to allow for a space delimiter:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString]
(
@List NVARCHAR(MAX),
@Delim VARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN ( SELECT [Value] FROM
(
SELECT
[Value] = LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@List, [Number],
CHARINDEX(@Delim, @List + @Delim, [Number]) - [Number])))
FROM (SELECT Number = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY name)
FROM sys.all_objects) AS x
WHERE Number <= LEN(@List)
AND SUBSTRING(@Delim + @List, [Number], LEN(@Delim+'x')-1) = @Delim
) AS y
);
Here is a function that will accomplish the question's goal of splitting a string and accessing item X:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString]
(
@List VARCHAR(MAX),
@Delimiter VARCHAR(255),
@ElementNumber INT
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @inp VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @inp = (SELECT REPLACE(@List,@Delimiter,'_DELMTR_') FOR XML PATH(''))
DECLARE @xml XML
SET @xml = '<split><el>' + REPLACE(@inp,'_DELMTR_','</el><el>') + '</el></split>'
DECLARE @ret VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @ret = (SELECT
el = split.el.value('.','varchar(max)')
FROM @xml.nodes('/split/el[string-length(.)>0][position() = sql:variable("@elementnumber")]') split(el))
RETURN @ret
END
Usage:
SELECT dbo.SplitString('Hello John Smith', ' ', 2)
Result:
John
SIMPLE SOLUTION FOR PARSING FIRST AND LAST NAME
DECLARE @Name varchar(10) = 'John Smith'
-- Get First Name
SELECT SUBSTRING(@Name, 0, (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', @Name)))
-- Get Last Name
SELECT SUBSTRING(@Name, (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', @Name)) + 1, LEN(@Name))
In my case (and in many others it seems...), I have a list of first and last names separated by a single space. This can be used directly inside a select statement to parse first and last name.
-- i.e. Get First and Last Name from a table of Full Names
SELECT SUBSTRING(FullName, 0, (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', FullName))) as FirstName,
SUBSTRING(FullName, (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', FullName)) + 1, LEN(FullName)) as LastName,
From FullNameTable
I know its late, but I recently had this requirement and came up with the below code. I don't have a choice to use User defined function. Hope this helps.
SELECT
SUBSTRING(
SUBSTRING('Hello John Smith' ,0,CHARINDEX(' ','Hello John Smith',CHARINDEX(' ','Hello John Smith')+1)
),CHARINDEX(' ','Hello John Smith'),LEN('Hello John Smith')
)
Well, mine isn't all that simpler, but here is the code I use to split a comma-delimited input variable into individual values, and put it into a table variable. I'm sure you could modify this slightly to split based on a space and then to do a basic SELECT query against that table variable to get your results.
-- Create temporary table to parse the list of accounting cycles.
DECLARE @tblAccountingCycles table
(
AccountingCycle varchar(10)
)
DECLARE @vchAccountingCycle varchar(10)
DECLARE @intPosition int
SET @vchAccountingCycleIDs = LTRIM(RTRIM(@vchAccountingCycleIDs)) + ','
SET @intPosition = CHARINDEX(',', @vchAccountingCycleIDs, 1)
IF REPLACE(@vchAccountingCycleIDs, ',', '') <> ''
BEGIN
WHILE @intPosition > 0
BEGIN
SET @vchAccountingCycle = LTRIM(RTRIM(LEFT(@vchAccountingCycleIDs, @intPosition - 1)))
IF @vchAccountingCycle <> ''
BEGIN
INSERT INTO @tblAccountingCycles (AccountingCycle) VALUES (@vchAccountingCycle)
END
SET @vchAccountingCycleIDs = RIGHT(@vchAccountingCycleIDs, LEN(@vchAccountingCycleIDs) - @intPosition)
SET @intPosition = CHARINDEX(',', @vchAccountingCycleIDs, 1)
END
END
The concept is pretty much the same. One other alternative is to leverage the .NET compatibility within SQL Server 2005 itself. You can essentially write yourself a simple method in .NET that would split the string and then expose that as a stored procedure/function.
This is something I did in order to get a specific token in a string. (Tested in MSSQL 2008)
First, creating the following functions: (found in: here
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitStrings_Moden
(
@List NVARCHAR(MAX),
@Delimiter NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
WITH SCHEMABINDING AS
RETURN
WITH E1(N) AS ( SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1
UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1
UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1),
E2(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E1 a, E1 b),
E4(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E2 a, E2 b),
E42(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E4 a, E2 b),
cteTally(N) AS (SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT TOP (DATALENGTH(ISNULL(@List,1)))
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM E42),
cteStart(N1) AS (SELECT t.N+1 FROM cteTally t
WHERE (SUBSTRING(@List,t.N,1) = @Delimiter OR t.N = 0))
SELECT Item = SUBSTRING(@List, s.N1, ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(@Delimiter,@List,s.N1),0)-s.N1,8000))
FROM cteStart s;
and
create FUNCTION dbo.getToken
(
@List NVARCHAR(MAX),
@Delimiter NVARCHAR(255),
@Pos int
)
RETURNS varchar(max)
as
begin
declare @returnValue varchar(max);
select @returnValue = tbl.Item from (
select ROW_NUMBER() over (order by (select null)) as id, * from dbo.SplitStrings_Moden(@List, @Delimiter)
) as tbl
where tbl.id = @Pos
return @returnValue
end
then you can use it like that:
select dbo.getToken('1111_2222_3333_', '_', 1)
which return 1111
