How to split a comma-separated value to columns

Question

I have a table like this

Value	String
1	Cleo, Smith

I want to separate the comma delimited string into two columns

Value	Name	Surname
1	Cleo	Smith

I need only two fixed extra columns

Mailand

possible duplicate of How to split a single column values to multiple column values? – Camarillo

From String_Split: "The output rows might be in any order. The order is not guaranteed to match the order of the substrings in the input string." It was added in SQL Server 2016. – Grimace

@Grimace And thus it is useless for a question about how to do it in SQL Server 2008 :-) – Sabra

Most of the answers here split it into rows not columns.. so most of the answers are incorrect. – Pillory

Answer 1

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fn_split_string_to_column] (
    @string NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @delimiter CHAR(1)
    )
RETURNS @out_put TABLE (
    [column_id] INT IDENTITY(1, 1) NOT NULL,
    [value] NVARCHAR(MAX)
    )
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @value NVARCHAR(MAX),
        @pos INT = 0,
        @len INT = 0

    SET @string = CASE 
            WHEN RIGHT(@string, 1) != @delimiter
                THEN @string + @delimiter
            ELSE @string
            END

    WHILE CHARINDEX(@delimiter, @string, @pos + 1) > 0
    BEGIN
        SET @len = CHARINDEX(@delimiter, @string, @pos + 1) - @pos
        SET @value = SUBSTRING(@string, @pos, @len)

        INSERT INTO @out_put ([value])
        SELECT LTRIM(RTRIM(@value)) AS [column]

        SET @pos = CHARINDEX(@delimiter, @string, @pos + @len) + 1
    END

    RETURN
END

Hippel

This should not be the accepted answer... A multi-statement TVF (very bad!) and a WHILE loop (even worse) together will perform awfully. Besides, this is a code-only answer and does not even solve the issue There are much better approaches around! For SQL-Server 2016+ look for STRING_SPLIT() (which does not carry the fragment's position, a huge fail!) or the really fast JSON-hack. For older version look for the well-known XML-hack (json and xml details here). Or look for one of the may iTVFs based on recursive CTEs. – Tapp

SQL 2016 and above: SELECT * FROM STRING_SPLIT('John,Jeremy,Jack',',') – Mathers

Agreed with the given solution. however, if you are SQL Server 2016 you can use string_split function.. You can also find usage of this builtinfunction over here tecloger.com/string-split-function-in-sql-server – Multitude

Everyone suggesting STRING_SPLIT, how can this function split string into columns (not rows like it's intended)? – Receivable

Answer 2

Your purpose can be solved using following query -

Select Value  , Substring(FullName, 1,Charindex(',', FullName)-1) as Name,
Substring(FullName, Charindex(',', FullName)+1, LEN(FullName)) as  Surname
from Table1

There is no readymade Split function in sql server, so we need to create user defined function.

CREATE FUNCTION Split (
      @InputString                  VARCHAR(8000),
      @Delimiter                    VARCHAR(50)
)

RETURNS @Items TABLE (
      Item                          VARCHAR(8000)
)

AS
BEGIN
      IF @Delimiter = ' '
      BEGIN
            SET @Delimiter = ','
            SET @InputString = REPLACE(@InputString, ' ', @Delimiter)
      END

      IF (@Delimiter IS NULL OR @Delimiter = '')
            SET @Delimiter = ','

--INSERT INTO @Items VALUES (@Delimiter) -- Diagnostic
--INSERT INTO @Items VALUES (@InputString) -- Diagnostic

      DECLARE @Item           VARCHAR(8000)
      DECLARE @ItemList       VARCHAR(8000)
      DECLARE @DelimIndex     INT

      SET @ItemList = @InputString
      SET @DelimIndex = CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @ItemList, 0)
      WHILE (@DelimIndex != 0)
      BEGIN
            SET @Item = SUBSTRING(@ItemList, 0, @DelimIndex)
            INSERT INTO @Items VALUES (@Item)

            -- Set @ItemList = @ItemList minus one less item
            SET @ItemList = SUBSTRING(@ItemList, @DelimIndex+1, LEN(@ItemList)-@DelimIndex)
            SET @DelimIndex = CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @ItemList, 0)
      END -- End WHILE

      IF @Item IS NOT NULL -- At least one delimiter was encountered in @InputString
      BEGIN
            SET @Item = @ItemList
            INSERT INTO @Items VALUES (@Item)
      END

      -- No delimiters were encountered in @InputString, so just return @InputString
      ELSE INSERT INTO @Items VALUES (@InputString)

      RETURN

END -- End Function
GO

---- Set Permissions
--GRANT SELECT ON Split TO UserRole1
--GRANT SELECT ON Split TO UserRole2
--GO

Court

Look at the numbers table solution DelimitedSplit8K by Jeff Moden in @ughai answer below too. – Alainealair

SQL 2016 now comes with a split function – Receptive

SQL 2016 and above: SELECT * FROM STRING_SPLIT('John,Jeremy,Jack',',') – Mathers

SUBSTRING and CHARINDEX also work in PySpark and so this answer solved the same column-separation challenge on #pyspark. – Reisfield

Answer 3

;WITH Split_Names (Value,Name, xmlname)
AS
(
    SELECT Value,
    Name,
    CONVERT(XML,'<Names><name>'  
    + REPLACE(Name,',', '</name><name>') + '</name></Names>') AS xmlname
      FROM tblnames
)

 SELECT Value,      
 xmlname.value('/Names[1]/name[1]','varchar(100)') AS Name,    
 xmlname.value('/Names[1]/name[2]','varchar(100)') AS Surname
 FROM Split_Names

and also check the link below for reference

http://jahaines.blogspot.in/2009/06/converting-delimited-string-of-values.html

Bernitabernj

This is better.. it's simple and short. – Crazyweed

I really love this way. CHARINDEX and SUBSTRING are a mess when you have more than 2 values to split (Eg. 1,2,3). Thanks a lot – Leekgreen

Great idea. Three times as slow as the CHARINDEX plus SUBSTRING mess though, at least for me. :-( – Diarmit

This is GENIUS for splitting large numbers of fields when each field needs a specified name! The entire query could easily be constructed using dynamic SQL too! – Slaver

This is excellent for splitting many comma separated fields from a single column! Thanks! – Shufu

Great solution however some characters are illegal in the XML (for example '&') so I had to wrap each field in a CDATA tag... CONVERT(XML,'<Names><name><![CDATA[' + REPLACE(Name,',', ']]></name><name><![CDATA[') + ']]></name></name>') AS xmlname – Haletta

@Haletta needed to update the code from Tony to CONVERT(XML,'<Names><name><![CDATA[' + REPLACE(address1,',', ']]></name><name><![CDATA[') + ']]></name></Names>') AS xmlname (Missing the final s on </Names>) – Tetragonal

Can I use this to generate dynamic number of columns instead of writing xmlname.value('/Names[1]/name[1]','varchar(100)') AS Name, xmlname.value('/Names[1]/name[2]','varchar(100)') AS Surname? In my case, I don't know that how many comma separated values will be there in string. please guide – Milo

Perfect! Thank you – Ochone

Answer 4

xml based answer is simple and clean

refer this

DECLARE @S varchar(max),
        @Split char(1),
        @X xml

SELECT @S = 'ab,cd,ef,gh,ij',
       @Split = ','

SELECT @X = CONVERT(xml,' <root> <myvalue>' +
REPLACE(@S,@Split,'</myvalue> <myvalue>') + '</myvalue>   </root> ')

SELECT  T.c.value('.','varchar(20)'),              --retrieve ALL values at once
  T.c.value('(/root/myvalue)[1]','VARCHAR(20)')  , --retrieve index 1 only, which is the 'ab'
  T.c.value('(/root/myvalue)[2]','VARCHAR(20)')
 FROM @X.nodes('/root/myvalue') T(c)

Moisten

This is really cool. The array like feature is very useful and I had no idea about. Thanks! – Wheatley

Answer 5

I think this is cool

SELECT value,
    PARSENAME(REPLACE(String,',','.'),2) 'Name' ,
    PARSENAME(REPLACE(String,',','.'),1) 'Surname'
FROM table WITH (NOLOCK)

Feleciafeledy

U r requirement is only for name and surname only na – Feleciafeledy

You also need to be aware that PARSENAME will return NULL for items longer than 128 chars. – Endeavor

Nice. Works well for my dataset too! – Chemush

Answer 6

With CROSS APPLY

select ParsedData.* 
from MyTable mt
cross apply ( select str = mt.String + ',,' ) f1
cross apply ( select p1 = charindex( ',', str ) ) ap1
cross apply ( select p2 = charindex( ',', str, p1 + 1 ) ) ap2
cross apply ( select Nmame = substring( str, 1, p1-1 )                   
                 , Surname = substring( str, p1+1, p2-p1-1 )
          ) ParsedData

Spiky

I cannot wrap my head around why you would need to add 2 commas at the end of the original string in order for this to work. Why does it not work without the " + ',,' "? – Trenttrento

@developer.ejay is it because the Left/SubString functions cannot take a 0 value? – Seigel

Great! You can easily copy/paste 2 lines for every extra column you want - then just increment the numbers e.g.: select ParsedData.* from MyTable mt cross apply ( select str = mt.String + ',,' ) f1 cross apply ( select p1 = charindex( ',', str ) ) ap1 cross apply ( select p2 = charindex( ',', str, p1 + 1 ) ) ap2 cross apply ( select p3 = charindex( ',', str, p2 + 1 ) ) ap3 cross apply ( select FName = substring( str, 1, p1-1 ) , LName = substring( str, p1+1, p2-p1-1 ) , Age = substring( str, p2+1, p3-p2-1 ) ) ParsedData – Coup

Answer 7

There are multiple ways to solve this and many different ways have been proposed already. Simplest would be to use LEFT / SUBSTRING and other string functions to achieve the desired result.

Sample Data

DECLARE @tbl1 TABLE (Value INT,String VARCHAR(MAX))

INSERT INTO @tbl1 VALUES(1,'Cleo, Smith');
INSERT INTO @tbl1 VALUES(2,'John, Mathew');

Using String Functions like LEFT

SELECT
    Value,
    LEFT(String,CHARINDEX(',',String)-1) as Fname,
    LTRIM(RIGHT(String,LEN(String) - CHARINDEX(',',String) )) AS Lname
FROM @tbl1

This approach fails if there are more 2 items in a String. In such a scenario, we can use a splitter and then use PIVOT or convert the string into an XML and use .nodes to get string items. XML based solution have been detailed out by aads and bvr in their solution.

The answers for this question which use splitter, all use WHILE which is inefficient for splitting. Check this performance comparison. One of the best splitters around is DelimitedSplit8K, created by Jeff Moden. You can read more about it here

Splitter with PIVOT

DECLARE @tbl1 TABLE (Value INT,String VARCHAR(MAX))

INSERT INTO @tbl1 VALUES(1,'Cleo, Smith');
INSERT INTO @tbl1 VALUES(2,'John, Mathew');


SELECT t3.Value,[1] as Fname,[2] as Lname
FROM @tbl1 as t1
CROSS APPLY [dbo].[DelimitedSplit8K](String,',') as t2
PIVOT(MAX(Item) FOR ItemNumber IN ([1],[2])) as t3

Output

Value   Fname   Lname
1   Cleo    Smith
2   John    Mathew

DelimitedSplit8K by Jeff Moden

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[DelimitedSplit8K]
/**********************************************************************************************************************
 Purpose:
 Split a given string at a given delimiter and return a list of the split elements (items).

 Notes:
 1.  Leading a trailing delimiters are treated as if an empty string element were present.
 2.  Consecutive delimiters are treated as if an empty string element were present between them.
 3.  Except when spaces are used as a delimiter, all spaces present in each element are preserved.

 Returns:
 iTVF containing the following:
 ItemNumber = Element position of Item as a BIGINT (not converted to INT to eliminate a CAST)
 Item       = Element value as a VARCHAR(8000)

 Statistics on this function may be found at the following URL:
 http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1101315-203-4.aspx

 CROSS APPLY Usage Examples and Tests:
--=====================================================================================================================
-- TEST 1:
-- This tests for various possible conditions in a string using a comma as the delimiter.  The expected results are
-- laid out in the comments
--=====================================================================================================================
--===== Conditionally drop the test tables to make reruns easier for testing.
     -- (this is NOT a part of the solution)
     IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#JBMTest') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #JBMTest
;
--===== Create and populate a test table on the fly (this is NOT a part of the solution).
     -- In the following comments, "b" is a blank and "E" is an element in the left to right order.
     -- Double Quotes are used to encapsulate the output of "Item" so that you can see that all blanks
     -- are preserved no matter where they may appear.
 SELECT *
   INTO #JBMTest
   FROM (                                               --# & type of Return Row(s)
         SELECT  0, NULL                      UNION ALL --1 NULL
         SELECT  1, SPACE(0)                  UNION ALL --1 b (Empty String)
         SELECT  2, SPACE(1)                  UNION ALL --1 b (1 space)
         SELECT  3, SPACE(5)                  UNION ALL --1 b (5 spaces)
         SELECT  4, ','                       UNION ALL --2 b b (both are empty strings)
         SELECT  5, '55555'                   UNION ALL --1 E
         SELECT  6, ',55555'                  UNION ALL --2 b E
         SELECT  7, ',55555,'                 UNION ALL --3 b E b
         SELECT  8, '55555,'                  UNION ALL --2 b B
         SELECT  9, '55555,1'                 UNION ALL --2 E E
         SELECT 10, '1,55555'                 UNION ALL --2 E E
         SELECT 11, '55555,4444,333,22,1'     UNION ALL --5 E E E E E 
         SELECT 12, '55555,4444,,333,22,1'    UNION ALL --6 E E b E E E
         SELECT 13, ',55555,4444,,333,22,1,'  UNION ALL --8 b E E b E E E b
         SELECT 14, ',55555,4444,,,333,22,1,' UNION ALL --9 b E E b b E E E b
         SELECT 15, ' 4444,55555 '            UNION ALL --2 E (w/Leading Space) E (w/Trailing Space)
         SELECT 16, 'This,is,a,test.'                   --E E E E
        ) d (SomeID, SomeValue)
;
--===== Split the CSV column for the whole table using CROSS APPLY (this is the solution)
 SELECT test.SomeID, test.SomeValue, split.ItemNumber, Item = QUOTENAME(split.Item,'"')
   FROM #JBMTest test
  CROSS APPLY dbo.DelimitedSplit8K(test.SomeValue,',') split
;
--=====================================================================================================================
-- TEST 2:
-- This tests for various "alpha" splits and COLLATION using all ASCII characters from 0 to 255 as a delimiter against
-- a given string.  Note that not all of the delimiters will be visible and some will show up as tiny squares because
-- they are "control" characters.  More specifically, this test will show you what happens to various non-accented 
-- letters for your given collation depending on the delimiter you chose.
--=====================================================================================================================
WITH 
cteBuildAllCharacters (String,Delimiter) AS 
(
 SELECT TOP 256 
        'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789',
        CHAR(ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL))-1)
   FROM master.sys.all_columns
)
 SELECT ASCII_Value = ASCII(c.Delimiter), c.Delimiter, split.ItemNumber, Item = QUOTENAME(split.Item,'"')
   FROM cteBuildAllCharacters c
  CROSS APPLY dbo.DelimitedSplit8K(c.String,c.Delimiter) split
  ORDER BY ASCII_Value, split.ItemNumber
;
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Other Notes:
 1. Optimized for VARCHAR(8000) or less.  No testing or error reporting for truncation at 8000 characters is done.
 2. Optimized for single character delimiter.  Multi-character delimiters should be resolvedexternally from this 
    function.
 3. Optimized for use with CROSS APPLY.
 4. Does not "trim" elements just in case leading or trailing blanks are intended.
 5. If you don't know how a Tally table can be used to replace loops, please see the following...
    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/62867/
 6. Changing this function to use NVARCHAR(MAX) will cause it to run twice as slow.  It's just the nature of 
    VARCHAR(MAX) whether it fits in-row or not.
 7. Multi-machine testing for the method of using UNPIVOT instead of 10 SELECT/UNION ALLs shows that the UNPIVOT method
    is quite machine dependent and can slow things down quite a bit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Credits:
 This code is the product of many people's efforts including but not limited to the following:
 cteTally concept originally by Iztek Ben Gan and "decimalized" by Lynn Pettis (and others) for a bit of extra speed
 and finally redacted by Jeff Moden for a different slant on readability and compactness. Hat's off to Paul White for
 his simple explanations of CROSS APPLY and for his detailed testing efforts. Last but not least, thanks to
 Ron "BitBucket" McCullough and Wayne Sheffield for their extreme performance testing across multiple machines and
 versions of SQL Server.  The latest improvement brought an additional 15-20% improvement over Rev 05.  Special thanks
 to "Nadrek" and "peter-757102" (aka Peter de Heer) for bringing such improvements to light.  Nadrek's original
 improvement brought about a 10% performance gain and Peter followed that up with the content of Rev 07.  

 I also thank whoever wrote the first article I ever saw on "numbers tables" which is located at the following URL
 and to Adam Machanic for leading me to it many years ago.
 http://sqlserver2000.databases.aspfaq.com/why-should-i-consider-using-an-auxiliary-numbers-table.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Revision History:
 Rev 00 - 20 Jan 2010 - Concept for inline cteTally: Lynn Pettis and others.
                        Redaction/Implementation: Jeff Moden 
        - Base 10 redaction and reduction for CTE.  (Total rewrite)

 Rev 01 - 13 Mar 2010 - Jeff Moden
        - Removed one additional concatenation and one subtraction from the SUBSTRING in the SELECT List for that tiny
          bit of extra speed.

 Rev 02 - 14 Apr 2010 - Jeff Moden
        - No code changes.  Added CROSS APPLY usage example to the header, some additional credits, and extra 
          documentation.

 Rev 03 - 18 Apr 2010 - Jeff Moden
        - No code changes.  Added notes 7, 8, and 9 about certain "optimizations" that don't actually work for this
          type of function.

 Rev 04 - 29 Jun 2010 - Jeff Moden
        - Added WITH SCHEMABINDING thanks to a note by Paul White.  This prevents an unnecessary "Table Spool" when the
          function is used in an UPDATE statement even though the function makes no external references.

 Rev 05 - 02 Apr 2011 - Jeff Moden
        - Rewritten for extreme performance improvement especially for larger strings approaching the 8K boundary and
          for strings that have wider elements.  The redaction of this code involved removing ALL concatenation of 
          delimiters, optimization of the maximum "N" value by using TOP instead of including it in the WHERE clause,
          and the reduction of all previous calculations (thanks to the switch to a "zero based" cteTally) to just one 
          instance of one add and one instance of a subtract. The length calculation for the final element (not 
          followed by a delimiter) in the string to be split has been greatly simplified by using the ISNULL/NULLIF 
          combination to determine when the CHARINDEX returned a 0 which indicates there are no more delimiters to be
          had or to start with. Depending on the width of the elements, this code is between 4 and 8 times faster on a
          single CPU box than the original code especially near the 8K boundary.
        - Modified comments to include more sanity checks on the usage example, etc.
        - Removed "other" notes 8 and 9 as they were no longer applicable.

 Rev 06 - 12 Apr 2011 - Jeff Moden
        - Based on a suggestion by Ron "Bitbucket" McCullough, additional test rows were added to the sample code and
          the code was changed to encapsulate the output in pipes so that spaces and empty strings could be perceived 
          in the output.  The first "Notes" section was added.  Finally, an extra test was added to the comments above.

 Rev 07 - 06 May 2011 - Peter de Heer, a further 15-20% performance enhancement has been discovered and incorporated 
          into this code which also eliminated the need for a "zero" position in the cteTally table. 
**********************************************************************************************************************/
--===== Define I/O parameters
        (@pString VARCHAR(8000), @pDelimiter CHAR(1))
RETURNS TABLE WITH SCHEMABINDING AS
 RETURN
--===== "Inline" CTE Driven "Tally Table" produces values from 0 up to 10,000...
     -- enough to cover NVARCHAR(4000)
  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
                ),                          --10E+1 or 10 rows
       E2(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E1 a, E1 b), --10E+2 or 100 rows
       E4(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E2 a, E2 b), --10E+4 or 10,000 rows max
 cteTally(N) AS (--==== This provides the "base" CTE and limits the number of rows right up front
                     -- for both a performance gain and prevention of accidental "overruns"
                 SELECT TOP (ISNULL(DATALENGTH(@pString),0)) ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM E4
                ),
cteStart(N1) AS (--==== This returns N+1 (starting position of each "element" just once for each delimiter)
                 SELECT 1 UNION ALL
                 SELECT t.N+1 FROM cteTally t WHERE SUBSTRING(@pString,t.N,1) = @pDelimiter
                ),
cteLen(N1,L1) AS(--==== Return start and length (for use in substring)
                 SELECT s.N1,
                        ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(@pDelimiter,@pString,s.N1),0)-s.N1,8000)
                   FROM cteStart s
                )
--===== Do the actual split. The ISNULL/NULLIF combo handles the length for the final element when no delimiter is found.
 SELECT ItemNumber = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY l.N1),
        Item       = SUBSTRING(@pString, l.N1, l.L1)
   FROM cteLen l
;

GO

Fennell

Answer 8

With SQL Server 2016 we can use string_split to accomplish this:

create table commasep (
 id int identity(1,1)
 ,string nvarchar(100) )

insert into commasep (string) values ('John, Adam'), ('test1,test2,test3')

select id, [value] as String from commasep 
 cross apply string_split(string,',')

Conformity

I am using SQL Server 2016 but it gives an error Invalid object name 'string_split' – Baneberry

Can you check the compatibility level of your database? It must be 130 which is sql server 2016. You can use this query select * from sys.databases – Conformity

right, I see 120 so it must be only the client (Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio) that is 2016 and not the database server per se because if I go to Help -> About, I see SQL Server 2016 Management Studio v13.0.15000.23. Thanks – Baneberry

It can happen that the level is set to any lower value by the db devs to keep the db compatible, even if the actual installed version is higher. Use this to set the level as high a required as long as the db supports this: DECLARE @cl TINYINT; SELECT @cl = compatibility_level FROM [sys].[databases] WHERE name = 'mydb'; IF @cl < 130 BEGIN ALTER DATABASE myDb SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 130 END; – Colicweed

this is useless unless you pivot it back from rows to columns. – Steelmaker

This is gold, I was able to use this approach to split people names into first, middle and third or more. – Indictment

Can we use Split_String on multiple columns in a single query? Suppose I've comma separated records in 2 of the columns, So can we use this ? – Brashy

Answer 9

SELECT id,
       Substring(NAME, 0, Charindex(',', NAME))             AS firstname,
       Substring(NAME, Charindex(',', NAME), Len(NAME) + 1) AS lastname
FROM   spilt  

Nettle

It would be useful if you could expand on your answer, and use the code formatting tools as well. – Gintz

Close, this will include the comma in the lastname. Got the +1 in the wrong spot. Should be Substring(NAME, Charindex(',', NAME)+1, Len(NAME)) AS lastname – Gyniatrics

Above query with give the lastname with , (comma) as well since it starting with ,. below are the correct one SELECT id, Substring(NAME, 0, Charindex(',', NAME)) AS firstname, Substring(NAME, Charindex(',', NAME)+1, Len(NAME) ) AS lastname FROM spilt – Highpowered

What happens in case of multiple Comma Separated Values ? – Goldstein

Answer 10

I think PARSENAME is the neat function to use for this example, as described in this article: http://www.sqlshack.com/parsing-and-rotating-delimited-data-in-sql-server-2012/

The PARSENAME function is logically designed to parse four-part object names. The nice thing about PARSENAME is that it’s not limited to parsing just SQL Server four-part object names – it will parse any function or string data that is delimited by dots.

The first parameter is the object to parse, and the second is the integer value of the object piece to return. The article is discussing parsing and rotating delimited data - company phone numbers, but it can be used to parse name/surname data also.

Example:

USE COMPANY;
SELECT PARSENAME('Whatever.you.want.parsed',3) AS 'ReturnValue';

The article also describes using a Common Table Expression (CTE) called ‘replaceChars’, to run PARSENAME against the delimiter-replaced values. A CTE is useful for returning a temporary view or result set.

After that, the UNPIVOT function has been used to convert some columns into rows; SUBSTRING and CHARINDEX functions have been used for cleaning up the inconsistencies in the data, and the LAG function (new for SQL Server 2012) has been used in the end, as it allows referencing of previous records.

Orectic

Answer 11

Try this (change instances of ' ' to ',' or whatever delimiter you want to use)

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.Wordparser
(
  @multiwordstring VARCHAR(255),
  @wordnumber      NUMERIC
)
returns VARCHAR(255)
AS
  BEGIN
      DECLARE @remainingstring VARCHAR(255)
      SET @remainingstring=@multiwordstring

      DECLARE @numberofwords NUMERIC
      SET @numberofwords=(LEN(@remainingstring) - LEN(REPLACE(@remainingstring, ' ', '')) + 1)

      DECLARE @word VARCHAR(50)
      DECLARE @parsedwords TABLE
      (
         line NUMERIC IDENTITY(1, 1),
         word VARCHAR(255)
      )

      WHILE @numberofwords > 1
        BEGIN
            SET @word=LEFT(@remainingstring, CHARINDEX(' ', @remainingstring) - 1)

            INSERT INTO @parsedwords(word)
            SELECT @word

            SET @remainingstring= REPLACE(@remainingstring, Concat(@word, ' '), '')
            SET @numberofwords=(LEN(@remainingstring) - LEN(REPLACE(@remainingstring, ' ', '')) + 1)

            IF @numberofwords = 1
              BREAK

            ELSE
              CONTINUE
        END

      IF @numberofwords = 1
        SELECT @word = @remainingstring
      INSERT INTO @parsedwords(word)
      SELECT @word

      RETURN
        (SELECT word
         FROM   @parsedwords
         WHERE  line = @wordnumber)

  END

Example usage:

SELECT dbo.Wordparser(COLUMN, 1),
       dbo.Wordparser(COLUMN, 2),
       dbo.Wordparser(COLUMN, 3)
FROM   TABLE

Cree

Failed for me if identical values in same row. – Miterwort

Answer 12

We can create a function as this

CREATE Function [dbo].[fn_CSVToTable] 
(
    @CSVList Varchar(max)
)
RETURNS @Table TABLE (ColumnData VARCHAR(100))
AS
BEGIN
    IF RIGHT(@CSVList, 1) <> ','
    SELECT @CSVList = @CSVList + ','

    DECLARE @Pos    BIGINT,
            @OldPos BIGINT
    SELECT  @Pos    = 1,
            @OldPos = 1

    WHILE   @Pos < LEN(@CSVList)
        BEGIN
            SELECT  @Pos = CHARINDEX(',', @CSVList, @OldPos)
            INSERT INTO @Table
            SELECT  LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@CSVList, @OldPos, @Pos - @OldPos))) Col001

            SELECT  @OldPos = @Pos + 1
        END

    RETURN
END

We can then seperate the CSV values into our respective columns using a SELECT statement

Desimone

Answer 13

You can use a table-valued function STRING_SPLIT, which is available only under compatibility level 130. If your database compatibility level is lower than 130, SQL Server will not be able to find and execute the STRING_SPLIT function. You can change a compatibility level of the database using the following command:

ALTER DATABASE DatabaseName SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 130

Syntax

SELECT * FROM STRING_SPLIT ( string, separator )

see documentation here

Pangermanism

Nice. But it does not apply to SQL Server less than 2016 – Candra

True, in my answer i indicated that it will only be available in compatibility level 130 and later. – Pangermanism

But STRING_SPLIT split into multiple rows, not multiple columns for each split. The OP was asking about splitting into multiple columns right? – Receivable

Answer 14

I think following function will work for you:

You have to create a function in SQL first. Like this

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fn_split](
@str VARCHAR(MAX),
@delimiter CHAR(1)
)
RETURNS @returnTable TABLE (idx INT PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY, item VARCHAR(8000))
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @pos INT
SELECT @str = @str + @delimiter
WHILE LEN(@str) > 0 
    BEGIN
        SELECT @pos = CHARINDEX(@delimiter,@str)
        IF @pos = 1
            INSERT @returnTable (item)
                VALUES (NULL)
        ELSE
            INSERT @returnTable (item)
                VALUES (SUBSTRING(@str, 1, @pos-1))
        SELECT @str = SUBSTRING(@str, @pos+1, LEN(@str)-@pos)       
    END
RETURN
END

You can call this function, like this:

select * from fn_split('1,24,5',',')

Implementation:

Declare @test TABLE (
ID VARCHAR(200),
Data VARCHAR(200)
)

insert into @test 
(ID, Data)
Values
('1','Cleo,Smith')


insert into @test 
(ID, Data)
Values
('2','Paul,Grim')

select ID,
(select item from fn_split(Data,',') where idx in (1)) as Name ,
(select item from fn_split(Data,',') where idx in (2)) as Surname
 from @test

Result will like this:

Leatherjacket

Using loops to split string is horribly inefficient. Here are several better options for that split function. sqlperformance.com/2012/07/t-sql-queries/split-strings – Thermoelectric

Answer 15

Use Parsename() function

with cte as(
    select 'Aria,Karimi' as FullName
    Union
    select 'Joe,Karimi' as FullName
    Union
    select 'Bab,Karimi' as FullName
)

SELECT PARSENAME(REPLACE(FullName,',','.'),2) as Name, 
       PARSENAME(REPLACE(FullName,',','.'),1) as Family
    FROM cte

Result

Name    Family
-----   ------
Aria    Karimi
Bab     Karimi
Joe     Karimi

Basic

Answer 16

Try this:

declare @csv varchar(100) ='aaa,bb,csda,daass';
set @csv = @csv+',';

with cte as
(
    select SUBSTRING(@csv,1,charindex(',',@csv,1)-1) as val, SUBSTRING(@csv,charindex(',',@csv,1)+1,len(@csv)) as rem 
    UNION ALL
    select SUBSTRING(a.rem,1,charindex(',',a.rem,1)-1)as val, SUBSTRING(a.rem,charindex(',',a.rem,1)+1,len(A.rem)) 
    from cte a where LEN(a.rem)>=1
    ) select val from cte

Nildanile

Work like a charm! – Twoway

Answer 17

This function is most fast:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.F_ExtractSubString
(
  @String VARCHAR(MAX),
  @NroSubString INT,
  @Separator VARCHAR(5)
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX) AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @St INT = 0, @End INT = 0, @Ret VARCHAR(MAX)
    SET @String = @String + @Separator
    WHILE CHARINDEX(@Separator, @String, @End + 1) > 0 AND @NroSubString > 0
    BEGIN
        SET @St = @End + 1
        SET @End = CHARINDEX(@Separator, @String, @End + 1)
        SET @NroSubString = @NroSubString - 1
    END
    IF @NroSubString > 0
        SET @Ret = ''
    ELSE
        SET @Ret = SUBSTRING(@String, @St, @End - @St)
    RETURN @Ret
END
GO

Example usage:

SELECT dbo.F_ExtractSubString(COLUMN, 1, ', '),
       dbo.F_ExtractSubString(COLUMN, 2, ', '),
       dbo.F_ExtractSubString(COLUMN, 3, ', ')
FROM   TABLE

Nantucket

Thank you for this code snippet, which might provide some limited, immediate help. A proper explanation would greatly improve its long-term value by showing why this is a good solution to the problem, and would make it more useful to future readers with other, similar questions. Please edit your answer to add some explanation, including the assumptions you've made. – Fredrika

Answer 18

I encountered a similar problem but a complex one and since this is the first thread i found regarding that issue i decided to post my finding. i know it is complex solution to a simple problem but i hope that i could help other people who go to this thread looking for a more complex solution. i had to split a string containing 5 numbers (column name: levelsFeed) and to show each number in a separate column. for example: 8,1,2,2,2 should be shown as :

1  2  3  4  5
-------------
8  1  2  2  2

Solution 1: using XML functions: this solution for the slowest solution by far

SELECT Distinct FeedbackID, 
, S.a.value('(/H/r)[1]', 'INT') AS level1
, S.a.value('(/H/r)[2]', 'INT') AS level2
, S.a.value('(/H/r)[3]', 'INT') AS level3
, S.a.value('(/H/r)[4]', 'INT') AS level4
, S.a.value('(/H/r)[5]', 'INT') AS level5
FROM (            
    SELECT *,CAST (N'<H><r>' + REPLACE(levelsFeed, ',', '</r><r>')  + '</r> </H>' AS XML) AS [vals]
    FROM Feedbacks 
)  as d
CROSS APPLY d.[vals].nodes('/H/r') S(a)

Solution 2: using Split function and pivot. (the split function split a string to rows with the column name Data)

SELECT FeedbackID, [1],[2],[3],[4],[5]
FROM (
    SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY feedbackID ORDER BY (SELECT  null)) as rn 
FROM (
    SELECT FeedbackID, levelsFeed
    FROM Feedbacks 
) as a
CROSS APPLY dbo.Split(levelsFeed, ',')
) as SourceTable
PIVOT
(
    MAX(data)
    FOR rn IN ([1],[2],[3],[4],[5])
)as pivotTable

Solution 3: using string manipulations functions - fastest by small margin over solution 2

SELECT FeedbackID,
SUBSTRING(levelsFeed,0,CHARINDEX(',',levelsFeed)) AS level1,
PARSENAME(REPLACE(SUBSTRING(levelsFeed,CHARINDEX(',',levelsFeed)+1,LEN(levelsFeed)),',','.'),4) AS level2,
PARSENAME(REPLACE(SUBSTRING(levelsFeed,CHARINDEX(',',levelsFeed)+1,LEN(levelsFeed)),',','.'),3) AS level3,
PARSENAME(REPLACE(SUBSTRING(levelsFeed,CHARINDEX(',',levelsFeed)+1,LEN(levelsFeed)),',','.'),2) AS level4,
PARSENAME(REPLACE(SUBSTRING(levelsFeed,CHARINDEX(',',levelsFeed)+1,LEN(levelsFeed)),',','.'),1) AS level5
FROM Feedbacks

since the levelsFeed contains 5 string values i needed to use the substring function for the first string.

i hope that my solution will help other that got to this thread looking for a more complex split to columns methods

Himation

Answer 19

Using instring function :)

select Value, 
       substring(String,1,instr(String," ") -1) Fname,  
       substring(String,instr(String,",") +1) Sname 
from tablename;

Used two functions,
1. substring(string, position, length) ==> returns string from positon to length
2. instr(string,pattern) ==> returns position of pattern.

If we don’t provide length argument in substring it returns until end of string

Paralipomena

Not sure what SQL dialect you are using, but in SQL Server we would have to use something like substring(@str, 1, charindex(@sep, @str) - 1) followed by substring(@str, charindex(@sep, @str) + 1, len(@str)). – Thegn

Answer 20

This worked for me

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString](
    @delimited NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @delimiter NVARCHAR(100)
) RETURNS @t TABLE ( 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

Fowlkes

do you know how to handle xml special chars? – Ephemera

Answer 21

You may find the solution in SQL User Defined Function to Parse a Delimited String helpful (from The Code Project).

This is the code part from this page:

CREATE FUNCTION [fn_ParseText2Table]
  (@p_SourceText VARCHAR(MAX)
  ,@p_Delimeter VARCHAR(100)=',' --default to comma delimited.
  )
 RETURNS @retTable
  TABLE([Position] INT IDENTITY(1,1)
   ,[Int_Value] INT
   ,[Num_Value] NUMERIC(18,3)
   ,[Txt_Value] VARCHAR(MAX)
   ,[Date_value] DATETIME
   )
AS
/*
********************************************************************************
Purpose: Parse values from a delimited string
  & return the result as an indexed table
Copyright 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003 Clayton Groom (<A href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A>)
Posted to the public domain Aug, 2004
2003-06-17 Rewritten as SQL 2000 function.
 Reworked to allow for delimiters > 1 character in length
 and to convert Text values to numbers
2016-04-05 Added logic for date values based on "new" ISDATE() function, Updated to use XML approach, which is more efficient.
********************************************************************************
*/


BEGIN
 DECLARE @w_xml xml;
 SET @w_xml = N'<root><i>' + replace(@p_SourceText, @p_Delimeter,'</i><i>') + '</i></root>';


 INSERT INTO @retTable
     ([Int_Value]
    , [Num_Value]
    , [Txt_Value]
    , [Date_value]
     )
     SELECT CASE
       WHEN ISNUMERIC([i].value('.', 'VARCHAR(MAX)')) = 1
       THEN CAST(CAST([i].value('.', 'VARCHAR(MAX)') AS NUMERIC) AS INT)
      END AS [Int_Value]
    , CASE
       WHEN ISNUMERIC([i].value('.', 'VARCHAR(MAX)')) = 1
       THEN CAST([i].value('.', 'VARCHAR(MAX)') AS NUMERIC(18, 3))
      END AS [Num_Value]
    , [i].value('.', 'VARCHAR(MAX)') AS [txt_Value]
    , CASE
       WHEN ISDATE([i].value('.', 'VARCHAR(MAX)')) = 1
       THEN CAST([i].value('.', 'VARCHAR(MAX)') AS DATETIME)
      END AS [Num_Value]
     FROM @w_xml.nodes('//root/i') AS [Items]([i]);
 RETURN;
END;
GO

Bacteriostasis

Any chance you could summarize the solution here to make sure the answer doesn't become obsolete if the link ever dies? – Chan

Answer 22

mytable:

Value  ColOne
--------------------
1      Cleo, Smith

The following should work if there aren't too many columns

ALTER TABLE mytable ADD ColTwo nvarchar(256);
UPDATE mytable SET ColTwo = LEFT(ColOne, Charindex(',', ColOne) - 1);
--'Cleo' = LEFT('Cleo, Smith', Charindex(',', 'Cleo, Smith') - 1)
UPDATE mytable SET ColTwo = REPLACE(ColOne, ColTwo + ',', '');
--' Smith' = REPLACE('Cleo, Smith', 'Cleo' + ',')
UPDATE mytable SET ColOne = REPLACE(ColOne, ',' + ColTwo, ''), ColTwo = LTRIM(ColTwo);
--'Cleo' = REPLACE('Cleo, Smith', ',' + ' Smith', '') 

Result:

Value  ColOne ColTwo
--------------------
1      Cleo   Smith

Miyasawa

Answer 23

DECLARE @INPUT VARCHAR (MAX)='N,A,R,E,N,D,R,A'
DECLARE @ELIMINATE_CHAR CHAR (1)=','
DECLARE @L_START INT=1
DECLARE @L_END INT=(SELECT LEN (@INPUT))
DECLARE @OUTPUT CHAR (1)

WHILE @L_START <=@L_END
BEGIN
    SET @OUTPUT=(SUBSTRING (@INPUT,@L_START,1))
    IF @OUTPUT!=@ELIMINATE_CHAR
    BEGIN
        PRINT @OUTPUT
    END
    SET @L_START=@L_START+1
END

Kirovograd

I used your code, it's simple but there are spelling errors in ELIMINATE_CHAT it should be ELIMINATE_CHAR and START AT the end of the script should be L_START. thank you. – Quaternary

Answer 24

ALTER function get_occurance_index(@delimiter varchar(1),@occurence int,@String varchar(100))
returns int
AS Begin
--Declare @delimiter varchar(1)=',',@occurence int=2,@String varchar(100)='a,b,c'
Declare @result int
 ;with T as (
    select 1 Rno,0 as row, charindex(@delimiter, @String) pos,@String st
    union all
    select Rno+1,pos + 1, charindex(@delimiter, @String, pos + 1), @String
    from T
    where pos > 0
)
select  @result=pos 
from T 
where pos > 0   and rno = @occurence 
return isnull(@result,0)
ENd


declare @data as table (data varchar(100))
insert into @data values('1,2,3') 
insert into @data values('aaa,bbbbb,cccc') 
select top  3 Substring (data,0,dbo.get_occurance_index( ',',1,data)) ,--First Record always starts with 0
Substring (data,dbo.get_occurance_index( ',',1,data)+1,dbo.get_occurance_index( ',',2,data)-dbo.get_occurance_index( ',',1,data)-1) ,
Substring (data,dbo.get_occurance_index( ',',2,data)+1,len(data)) , -- Last record cant be more than len of actual data
data 
From @data 

Fond

Answer 25

I re-wrote an answer above and made it better:

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[CSVParser]
(
  @s        VARCHAR(255),
  @idx      NUMERIC
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(12)
BEGIN
    DECLARE @comma int
    SET @comma = CHARINDEX(',', @s)
    WHILE 1=1
    BEGIN
        IF @comma=0
            IF @idx=1
                RETURN @s
            ELSE
                RETURN ''

        IF @idx=1
        BEGIN
            DECLARE @word VARCHAR(12)
            SET @word=LEFT(@s, @comma - 1)
            RETURN @word
        END

        SET @s = RIGHT(@s,LEN(@s)-@comma)
        SET @comma = CHARINDEX(',', @s)
        SET @idx = @idx - 1
    END
    RETURN 'not used'
END

Example usage:

SELECT dbo.CSVParser(COLUMN, 1),
       dbo.CSVParser(COLUMN, 2),
       dbo.CSVParser(COLUMN, 3)
FROM   TABLE

Miterwort

Answer 26

question is simple, but problem is hot :)

So I create some wrapper for string_split() which pivot result in more generic way. It's table function which returns values (nn, value1, value2, ... , value50) - enough for most CSV lines. If there are more values, they will wrap to next line - nn indicate line number. Set third parameter @columnCnt = [yourNumber] to wrap at specific position:

alter FUNCTION fn_Split50
(   
    @str varchar(max),
    @delim char(1), 
    @columnCnt int = 50
)
RETURNS TABLE 
AS
RETURN 
(
    SELECT * 
    FROM (SELECT 
            nn = (nn - 1) / @columnCnt + 1, 
            nnn = 'value' + cast(((nn - 1) % @columnCnt) + 1 as varchar(10)), 
            value
        FROM (SELECT 
            nn = ROW_NUMBER() over (order by (select null)),
            value
            FROM string_split(@str, @delim) aa
            ) aa
        where nn > 0
    ) bb
    PIVOT  
    (  
    max(value) 
    FOR nnn IN (    
        value1, value2, value3, value4, value5, value6, value7, value8, value9, value10,
        value11, value12, value13, value14, value15, value16, value17, value18, value19, value20,
        value21, value22, value23, value24, value25, value26, value27, value28, value29, value30,
        value31, value32, value33, value34, value35, value36, value37, value38, value39, value40,
        value41, value42, value43, value44, value45, value46, value47, value48, value49, value50        
     )  
    ) AS PivotTable 
)

Example of using:

select * from dbo.fn_split50('zz1,aa2,ss3,dd4,ff5', ',', DEFAULT)

select * from dbo.fn_split50('zz1,aa2,ss3,dd4,ff5,gg6,hh7,jj8,ww9,qq10', ',', 3)

select * from dbo.fn_split50('zz1,11,aa2,22,ss3,33,dd4,44,ff5,55,gg6,66,hh7,77,jj8,88,ww9,99,qq10,1010', ',',2)

Hope, it will helps :)

Irritability

I have more than 4 delimiters. I am trying to convert one column with string that has a delimiter "_" and I want to divide into 10 (as many delimiters) different columns with col names being col1, col2, col3 etc. ```` create table dummy_table (MAIN_COLUMN varchar(max)); insert into dummy_table values ('COL1_COL2_COL3_COL4_COL5_COL6_COL7_COL8_COL9_COL10'), ('COL1_COL2_COL3_COL4_COL5_COL6_COL7_COL8_COL9_COL10'); ```` Expected outcome: ```` |MAIN_COLUMN| COL_1 | COL_2 | ..... |COL1_COL2_COL3_COL4_COL5_COL6_COL7_COL8_COL9_COL10| COL1 | COL2 | .... – Januaryjanuisz

Answer 27

I found that using PARSENAME as above caused any name with a period to get nulled.

So if there was an initial or a title in the name followed by a dot they return NULL.

I found this worked for me:

SELECT 
REPLACE(SUBSTRING(FullName, 1,CHARINDEX(',', FullName)), ',','') as Name,
REPLACE(SUBSTRING(FullName, CHARINDEX(',', FullName), LEN(FullName)), ',', '') as Surname
FROM Table1

Nolitta

Answer 28

it is so easy, you can take it by below query:

DECLARE @str NVARCHAR(MAX)='ControlID_05436b78-04ba-9667-fa01-9ff8c1b7c235,3'
SELECT LEFT(@str, CHARINDEX(',',@str)-1),RIGHT(@str,LEN(@str)-(CHARINDEX(',',@str)))

Vend

Answer 29

select distinct modelFileId,F4.*
from contract
cross apply (select XmlList=convert(xml, '<x>'+replace(modelFileId,';','</x><x>')+'</x>').query('.')) F2
cross apply (select mfid1=XmlNode.value('/x[1]','varchar(512)')
,mfid2=XmlNode.value('/x[2]','varchar(512)')
,mfid3=XmlNode.value('/x[3]','varchar(512)')
,mfid4=XmlNode.value('/x[4]','varchar(512)') from XmlList.nodes('x') F3(XmlNode)) F4
where modelFileId like '%;%'
order by modelFileId

Tennessee

Answer 30

Select distinct PROJ_UID,PROJ_NAME,RES_UID from E2E_ProjectWiseTimesheetActuals
where   CHARINDEX(','+cast(PROJ_UID as varchar(8000))+',', @params) > 0 and  CHARINDEX(','+cast(RES_UID as varchar(8000))+',', @res) > 0

Lannielanning

While this code may answer the question, providing additional context regarding why and/or how this code answers the question improves its long-term value. – Standup

Answer 31

You can use SQL Server STRING_SPLIT function:

STRING_SPLIT ( string , separator )  

Limnetic

SQL Server 2016 and later. See: learn.microsoft.com/pt-br/sql/t-sql/functions/… – Threewheeler

Definitely worth noting this is SQL 2016 and later, where the original question was asking about 2008; but still useful for people like me that have landed here, using the later version :) – Schreibe

Answer 32

I did:

drop table if exists #test;
create table #test(valor varchar(200));
insert into #test values ('Cleo, Smith'), ('Jhon');
select
    *
    ,REVERSE(PARSENAME(REPLACE(REVERSE(valor), ',', '.'), 1)) as name
     ,REVERSE(PARSENAME(REPLACE(REVERSE(valor), ',', '.'), 2)) as Surname
    ,REVERSE(PARSENAME(REPLACE(REVERSE(valor), ',', '.'), 3)) as other
from #test;

/*
+-----------+----+-------+-----+
|valor      |name|Surname|other|
+-----------+----+-------+-----+
|Cleo, Smith|Cleo| Smith |NULL |
|Jhon       |Jhon|NULL   |NULL |
+-----------+----+-------+-----+
*/

Contrarious

The PARSENAME function works because the function has the ability to return a value from a specified position in a "Dot" delimited string. It does have a limitation that it will not work with more than four delimited values within a string. – Heilman

Answer 33

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnSplit](@sInputList VARCHAR(8000), @sDelimiter VARCHAR(8000) = ',')
RETURNS @List TABLE (item VARCHAR(8000))
BEGIN

    DECLARE @sItem VARCHAR(8000)
    WHILE CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter, @sInputList, 0) <> 0
    BEGIN

        SELECT @sItem = RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@sInputList, 1, CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter, @sInputList,0) - 1))),
               @sInputList = RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@sInputList, CHARINDEX(@sDelimiter, @sInputList, 0) + LEN(@sDelimiter),LEN(@sInputList))))

        -- Indexes to keep the position of searching
        IF LEN(@sItem) > 0

        INSERT INTO @List SELECT @sItem

    END

    IF LEN(@sInputList) > 0
    BEGIN

        INSERT INTO @List SELECT @sInputList -- Put the last item in

    END

    RETURN

END

Olvan

Answer 34

You can use split function.

SELECT 
(select top 1 item from dbo.Split(FullName,',') where id=1 ) as Name,
(select top 1 item from dbo.Split(FullName,',') where id=2 ) as Surname,
FROM MyTbl

Quickman

that is not a built in function. we need to create a function Split in that DB. – Phillips

Answer 35

It's an old question, but if an upgrade to SQL Server 2017+ is possible, a JSON-based approach is also an option. The idea is to make an appropriate transformation:

• Transform the text stored in the String column into a valid JSON array (Cleo, Smith into ["Cleo"," Smith"]) and parse this array with JSON_VALUE().

• Transform the text stored in the String column into a valid nested JSON array (Cleo, Smith into [["Cleo"," Smith"]]) and parse this array with OPENJSON() and explicit schema (columns definitions).

Table:

SELECT [Value], [String]
INTO Data
FROM (VALUES
   (1, 'Cleo, Smith'),
   (2, 'John, Smith'),
   (3, 'Marian')
) v ([Value], [String])

Statement using JSON_VALUE():

SELECT 
   [Value], 
   TRIM(JSON_VALUE(CONCAT('["', REPLACE(STRING_ESCAPE([String], 'json'), ',', '","'), '"]'), 'lax $[0]')) AS Name,
   TRIM(JSON_VALUE(CONCAT('["', REPLACE(STRING_ESCAPE([String], 'json'), ',', '","'), '"]'), 'lax $[1]')) AS Surname
FROM Data

Statement using OPENJSON():

SELECT d.[Value], TRIM(j.[Name]) AS [Name], TRIM(j.[Surname]) AS [Surname]
FROM Data d
OUTER APPLY OPENJSON(CONCAT('[["', REPLACE(STRING_ESCAPE(d.[String], 'json'), ',', '","'), '"]]')) WITH (
   Name varchar(100) 'lax $[0]',
   Surname varchar(100) 'lax $[1]'
) j

Result:

Value  Name   Surname
---------------------
1      Cleo   Smith
2      John   Smith
3      Marian   

As an additional note, with this technique you can easily parse the text with more than two columns by adding the appropariate JSON path.

Primrose

Answer 36

Try below:

USE TRIAL
GO
CREATE TABLE DETAILS
(
  ID INT,
  NAME VARCHAR(50),
  ADDRESS VARCHAR(50)
)

INSERT INTO DETAILS
VALUES (100, 'POPE-JOHN-PAUL','VATICAN CIT|ROME|ITALY')
,(240, 'SIR-PAUL-McARTNEY','NEWYORK CITY|NEWYORK|USA')
,(460,'BARRACK-HUSSEIN-OBAMA','WHITE HOUSE|WASHINGTON|USA')
,(700, 'PRESIDENT-VLADAMIR-PUTIN','RED SQUARE|MOSCOW|RUSSIA')
,(950, 'NARENDRA-DAMODARDAS-MODI','10 JANPATH|NEW DELHI|INDIA')

Query:

select [ID]
,[NAME]
,[ADDRESS]
,REPLACE(LEFT(NAME, CHARINDEX('-', NAME)),'-',' ') as First_Name
,CASE 
WHEN CHARINDEX('-',REVERSE(NAME))+ CHARINDEX('-',NAME) < LEN(NAME)
THEN  SUBSTRING(NAME, CHARINDEX('-', (NAME)) + 1, LEN(NAME) - CHARINDEX('-', REVERSE(NAME)) - CHARINDEX('-', NAME))
ELSE 'NULL'
END AS Middle_Name
,REPLACE(REVERSE( SUBSTRING( REVERSE(NAME), 1, CHARINDEX('-',REVERSE(NAME)))), '-','') AS Last_Name 
,REPLACE(LEFT(ADDRESS, CHARINDEX('|', ADDRESS)),'|',' ') AS Locality
,CASE 
WHEN CHARINDEX('|',REVERSE(ADDRESS))+ CHARINDEX('|',ADDRESS) < LEN(ADDRESS) 
THEN SUBSTRING(ADDRESS, CHARINDEX('|', (ADDRESS))+1, LEN(ADDRESS)-CHARINDEX('|', REVERSE(ADDRESS))-CHARINDEX('|',ADDRESS))
ELSE 'Null' 
END AS STATE
,REPLACE(REVERSE(SUBSTRING(REVERSE(ADDRESS),1 ,CHARINDEX('|',REVERSE(ADDRESS)))),'|','') AS Country
FROM DETAILS

SELECT CHARINDEX('-', REVERSE(NAME)) AS LAST,CHARINDEX('-',NAME)AS FIRST, LEN(NAME) AS LENGTH
FROM DETAILS

SELECT SUBSTRING(NAME, CHARINDEX('-', (NAME))+1, LEN(NAME) -CHARINDEX('-', REVERSE(NAME)) - CHARINDEX('-', NAME))
FROM DETAILS

LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS UNDERSTANDING THE CODE

Boatwright

Please add some context to explain the code sections. – Demeanor

Answer 37

ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[StringListTo] (@StringList Nvarchar(max),@Separators char(1),@start int, @index int )
RETURNS nvarchar(max)
AS
BEGIN
declare @out Nvarchar(max)
declare @i int
declare @start_old int
set @start=@start+1
set @i=1
while(@i<=@index)
begin
    set @start_old=@start
    set @start=CHARINDEX('.',@StringList,@start+1)
    if (@start>0)
    begin
        set @out=Substring(@StringList,@start_old+1,@start-@start_old-1)
    end
else
begin
    set @out=Substring(@StringList,@start_old+1,len(@StringList)-1)
end
set @i=@i+1
end
RETURN @out
END;

Turnpike

Hi Amin, welcome to SO. Code only answers are discouraged, as they don't teach anyone why this code solves the problem. Could you please edit your post to explain what this code does? – Wellpreserved

needs details as to what is happening and why, was this just copy and pasted? – Georginageorgine

Answer 38

Try this out

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[Split]  
(  
 @ListOfValues varchar(max),   
 @ValueSeparator varchar(10)  
)  
RETURNS @ListOfValuesInRows TABLE  
(  
 Value varchar(max)  
)  
AS  
BEGIN  

 IF Len(@ListOfValues) = 0  
  RETURN   

 if @ValueSeparator <> ' '  
 Begin  
  WHILE CHARINDEX(@ValueSeparator, @ListOfValues) > 0  
  BEGIN  

   INSERT INTO @ListOfValuesInRows   
   SELECT LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@ListOfValues, 1, CHARINDEX(@ValueSeparator, @ListOfValues)-1)))  

   SET @ListOfValues = SubString(@ListOfValues, CharIndex(@ValueSeparator, @ListOfValues)+Len(@ValueSeparator), Len(@ListOfValues))  

  END  

  INSERT INTO @ListOfValuesInRows  
  SELECT LTRIM(RTRIM(@ListOfValues))  
 End  
 Else  
 BEGIN  
  DECLARE @xml XML;  
  SET @xml = N'<t>' + REPLACE(@ListOfValues, @ValueSeparator, '</t><t>') + '</t>';  
  INSERT INTO @ListOfValuesInRows (Value)  
  SELECT LTRIM(RTRIM(r.value( '.', 'varchar(MAX)' ))) AS item  
  FROM @xml.nodes( '/t' ) AS records( r )  

 END  

RETURN  

END  

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