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"?
How do I split a delimited string so I can access individual items?
Asked Answered
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
why
SET @p_SourceText = RTRIM( LTRIM( @p_SourceText)) SET @w_Length = DATALENGTH( RTRIM( LTRIM( @p_SourceText))) and not SET @p_SourceText = RTRIM( LTRIM( @p_SourceText)) SET @w_Length = DATALENGTH( @p_SourceText)? –
Regimentals @Swig This solution does not support Unicode & it uses hard coded numeric(18,3) which doesn't make it a viable "reusable" function. –
Sowens
This works but allocates a lot of memory and wastes CPU. –
Prevision
As of SQL Server 2016, there is now a built-in function
STRING_SPLIT that will split a string and return a one-column table result which you can use in a SELECT statement or elsewhere. –
Broadnax Too bad the guys I work for aren't on 2016. But, I'll keep it in mind in case they ever get the lead out of their shoes. Great solution in the interim. I implemented it as a function and and added delimiter as an argument. –
Cami
@Valet Thanks. It is the second time I need this and come here. And at last have make a SplitString Table Valued Function with this for Sql server 2008, 2010, 2014 Here The SplitString Function And it's calling mechanism –
Jezebel
@Broadnax How would you use
STRING_SPLIT with an index? The question asks how to retrieve a specific value, not a full list. –
Iiette can you help me with how this logic can be changed if the input = |1|20|3|343|44|6|8765| –
Crinkleroot
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?
Thanks Saul...I should point out that this solution is really a bad solution for real development. PARSENAME only expects four parts, so using a string with more than four parts causes it to return NULL. The UDF solutions are obviously better. –
Lucifer
This is a great hack, and also makes me weep that something like this is necessary for something so friggin simple in real languages. –
Conatus
To make the indexes work in the "right" way, that is, starting at 1, i've hijacked your hijack with REVERSE: REVERSE(PARSENAME(REPLACE(REVERSE('Hello John Smith'), ' ', '.'), 1)) -- Returns Hello –
Extraversion
@FactorMystic First Normal Form requires that you not put multiple values in a single field. It's literally the first rule of an RDBMS. A
SPLIT() function is not supplied because it encourages poor database design, and the database will never be optimized to use data stored in this format. The RDBMS is not obligated to help developers do stupid things that it has been designed not to handle. The correct answer will always be "Normalize your database like we told you 40 years ago." Neither SQL nor the RDBMS are to blame for poor design. –
Weigh This is uber cool. It just so happens that the data i'm working with has four elements –
Aalborg
+1 can always concoct a quick and dirty working solution for >4 tokens with a combination of reverse(), charindex(), substring() –
Deneb
@BaconBits while I agree in theory, in practice tools like this are useful when normalizing a poor design produced by someone who came before you. –
Simper
When the number of splits in the string varies from left to right, then the @Extraversion route is the way to go . –
Verbatim
@Extraversion The performance of the REVERSE(PARSENAME(REPLACE(REVERSE('Hello John Smith'), ' ', '.'), 1)) solution is excellent and the 4 field limitation fits my problem. Thanks!!! –
Verbatim
@Deneb I'd love to see what you come up with. Please show us. –
Verbatim
@Verbatim i posted a separate answer - it's very quick and dirty and ugly, and stems from the same principles but anyway, since you asked. cheers –
Deneb
For awareness: Since parsename function is designed to return database identifiers, the value returned is limited to 128 characters (a sysname data type, which corresponds to nvarchar(128) ). If it goes beyond this, a NULL will be returned instead. –
Bluebell
For awareness: it works only with four elements or less. If you have more than four elements the PARSENAME always return NULL, even for index lower than 5. learn.microsoft.com/it-it/sql/t-sql/functions/… –
Toolmaker
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
why
SET @p_SourceText = RTRIM( LTRIM( @p_SourceText)) SET @w_Length = DATALENGTH( RTRIM( LTRIM( @p_SourceText))) and not SET @p_SourceText = RTRIM( LTRIM( @p_SourceText)) SET @w_Length = DATALENGTH( @p_SourceText)? –
Regimentals @Swig This solution does not support Unicode & it uses hard coded numeric(18,3) which doesn't make it a viable "reusable" function. –
Sowens
This works but allocates a lot of memory and wastes CPU. –
Prevision
As of SQL Server 2016, there is now a built-in function
STRING_SPLIT that will split a string and return a one-column table result which you can use in a SELECT statement or elsewhere. –
Broadnax Too bad the guys I work for aren't on 2016. But, I'll keep it in mind in case they ever get the lead out of their shoes. Great solution in the interim. I implemented it as a function and and added delimiter as an argument. –
Cami
@Valet Thanks. It is the second time I need this and come here. And at last have make a SplitString Table Valued Function with this for Sql server 2008, 2010, 2014 Here The SplitString Function And it's calling mechanism –
Jezebel
@Broadnax How would you use
STRING_SPLIT with an index? The question asks how to retrieve a specific value, not a full list. –
Iiette can you help me with how this logic can be changed if the input = |1|20|3|343|44|6|8765| –
Crinkleroot
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.
It's elegant but only works for 100 elements because of the limit of recursion depth. –
Unclassified
@Pking, no, the default is
100 (to prevent infinite loop). Use MAXRECURSION hint to define number of recursion levels (0 to 32767, 0 is "no limit" - may crush server). BTW, much better answer than PARSENAME, because it's universal :-). +1 –
Dumbstruck Adding
maxrecursion to this solution keep in mind this question and its answers How to setup the maxrecursion option for a CTE inside a Table-Valued-Function. –
Dumbstruck Specifically, reference the answer by Crisfole - his method slows it somewhat, but is simpler than most other options. –
Antiquate
minor point but the usage doesn't remain the same because you changed the column name, so
s is no longer defined –
Simper I avoid the recursion limitation by using this code, which if I were not happily moving to SQL Server 2016 I would make a table-valued function or a scalar function, depending on my actual needs. By looping instead of self-joining you could theoretically use any size string. –
Deport
Most of the solutions here use while loops or recursive CTEs. A set-based approach will be superior, I promise, if you can use a delimiter other than a space:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString]
(
@List NVARCHAR(MAX),
@Delim VARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN ( SELECT [Value], idx = RANK() OVER (ORDER BY n) FROM
(
SELECT n = Number,
[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
);
Sample usage:
SELECT Value FROM dbo.SplitString('foo,bar,blat,foo,splunge',',')
WHERE idx = 3;
Results:
----
blat
You could also add the idx you want as an argument to the function, but I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader.
You can't do this with just the native STRING_SPLIT function added in SQL Server 2016, because there is no guarantee that the output will be rendered in the order of the original list. In other words, if you pass in 3,6,1 the result will likely be in that order, but it could be 1,3,6. I have asked for the community's help in improving the built-in function here:
With enough qualitative feedback, they may actually consider making some of these enhancements:
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():
Best answer, IMHO. In some of other answers there is the issue of SQL recursion limit of 100, but not in this case. Very fast and very simple implementation. Where is the +2 button? –
Microfiche
Thanks to Aaron; But can someone explain why if I pass
varchar (not varchar(max)) as the argument this function returns empty list? like declare @list varchar = 'something'; select from dbo.SplitString(@list, ';'); –
Damato @Mikhail Because
varchar without length can either be varchar(30) or varchar(1) depending on context. Don't try to understand that problem - just don't use that syntax. Ever. –
Dylane I tried this function verbatim with the usage:
select * from DBO.SplitString('Hello John smith', ' '); and the output produced was: Value Hello ello llo lo o John ohn hn n smith mith ith th h –
Verbatim @Verbatim Try using a delimiter other than space. Many functions are going to have the issue that trailing spaces are dropped. –
Dylane
@AaronBertrand The original problem posted by GateKiller involves a space delimiter. –
Verbatim
The "len" function has an implict built-in "rtrim" which comes from the 80's when SQL only had char (not varchar) so try this:
select len( ' ' ) as len_space, len( '* ' ) as len_star_space, len( ' *' ) as len_space_star, datalength( ' ' ) as datalength_space, datalength( '* ' ) as datalength_star_space, datalength( ' *' ) as datalength_space_star, case when '' = ' ' then 'yes' else 'no' end as nospace_equals_space Fix: replace "len" with "datalength" (but beware n(var)char) –
Perreault This splits the string. how do you retrieve a specific n-th element? –
Wash
@Wash Addressed. –
Dylane
@AaronBertrand Thanks very much, I can reproduce this. –
Wash
@AaronBertrand adding example for applying to a whole table: SELECT o.myfield, u.value from mytable o cross apply dbo.SplitString(o.myfield,';') u where u.idx = 4 –
Wash
This won't work if you don't have "CREATE FUNCTION" permission... –
Cockleshell
@Cockleshell Yes, that’s true. You also wouldn’t have a table to select from if you didn’t have ALTER SCHEMA permission, and wouldn’t be able to select from it if you don’t have SELECT permission You could always ask someone to create the function for you. Or create it somewhere you can create it (even temporarily, say in tempdb). And on 2016+ you should be using STRING_SPLIT() and not a function you have to create yourself anyway. –
Dylane
@AaronBertrand I'm on 2016, but apparently not compatibility level >= 130 (the db admin wasn't sure and won't be able to look into it until later) –
Cockleshell
@AaronBertrand "And on 2016+ you should be using STRING_SPLIT()" : I can't imagine any real-world use for STRING_SPLIT, since it does not return an index for the parts of the string that was split, and according to it's docs, "the order of the output may vary as the order is not guaranteed to match the order of the substrings in the input string". –
Chita
I like the way this Azure Feedback item puts it: 'STRING_SPLIT is not feature complete', and 'It’s a shame that this was submitted as just a “suggestion”. It should actually be listed as a “bug” because there’s only a comparatively small set of use cases where enumeration of the result set of elements is not important.' –
Chita
@ReversedEngineer There are plenty of uses that don't (and shouldn't) care about the original order of the list. "Find all the customers in this list." Why does it matter if the list is
3,5,2,8 or 8,3,5,2? I think it's a rather obscure edge case that the requirement would be "Find all the customers in this list and render them in exactly this order." (I'm not arguing against fixing that, I'm just suggesting that my impression of the majority of uses for the function differs from yours. That is anecdotal evidence from the number of accepted answers showing functions without ordinal out.) –
Dylane @ReversedEngineer Anyway, updated my answer with some of my thoughts around this. Also, as an aside, I was one of the ones who pushed for clarity in the docs, that output order may not match input order. –
Dylane
@AaronBertrand "Also, as an aside, I was one of the ones who pushed for clarity in the docs, that output order may not match input order." - Thank you! I appreciate what you do to "press Microsoft for improvements", as well as help clear up this kind of vague "Microsoft documentation for Dummies". Also I see your point about there being cases when the order doesn't matter, in which case STRING_SPLIT is indeed a great solution. –
Chita
@AaronBertrand Thank you so much for sharing your solution! Hope you don't mind if I publish here my modification including idx parameter. BTW I voted in your request for improvement of STRIN_SPLIT –
Halloran
@AaronBertrand Your solution works but you should add that people should be using a clustered/non clustered indexed tally table (numbers sequence table). You are using sql server built in tables and then doing row_number on the fly which makes the code usable in without someone first having to create tally table but there is big performance increase when not having to do row_number for each call of the function. –
Timid
@MattiasW I've talked about numbers tables a lot (see here and, specifically, here). The challenge I've had over and over again here on Stack Overflow is that people asking questions are fussy and so often have responded "Add a table? Are you insane?" So I stopped offering it by default. Using
sys.all_objects will make it really hard for you to actually demonstrate worse performance than a numbers table anyway. –
Dylane 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 JSON_VALUE and OPENJSON.
With JSON_VALUE we can pass in the position as the index' array.
For 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';
DECLARE @position INT = 2;
--We can build the json-path '$[1]' using CONCAT
SELECT JSON_VALUE('["' + REPLACE(@str,' ','","') + '"]',CONCAT('$[',@position-1,']'));
--See this for a position safe string-splitter (zero-based):
SELECT JsonArray.[key] AS [Position]
,JsonArray.[value] AS [Part]
FROM OPENJSON('["' + REPLACE(@str,' ','","') + '"]') JsonArray
In this post I tested various approaches and found, that OPENJSON is really fast. Even much faster than the famous "delimitedSplit8k()" method...
UPDATE 2 - Get the values type-safe
We can use an array within an array simply by using doubled [[]]. This allows for a typed WITH-clause:
DECLARE @SomeDelimitedString VARCHAR(100)='part1|1|20190920';
DECLARE @JsonArray NVARCHAR(MAX)=CONCAT('[["',REPLACE(@SomeDelimitedString,'|','","'),'"]]');
SELECT @SomeDelimitedString AS TheOriginal
,@JsonArray AS TransformedToJSON
,ValuesFromTheArray.*
FROM OPENJSON(@JsonArray)
WITH(TheFirstFragment VARCHAR(100) '$[0]'
,TheSecondFragment INT '$[1]'
,TheThirdFragment DATE '$[2]') ValuesFromTheArray
Re: if your string might include forbidden characters... you could simply wrap the substrings like so
<x><![CDATA[x<&>x]]></x>. –
Lamarckism @SalmanA, yeah ,
CDATA-sections can deal with this too... But after the cast they are gone (changed to escaped text() implicitly). I do not like magic under the hood, so I'd prefer the (SELECT 'Text with <&>' AS [*] FOR XML PATH('')) - approach. This looks cleaner to me and happens anyway... (Some more about CDATA and XML). –
Agnusago Before doing the
REPLACE in the JSON version you should call STRING_ESCAPE(@SomeDelimitedString, 'JSON') dbfiddle.uk/mWShPwRP –
Idempotent 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.
The best solution IMO, the others have some kind of limitation.. this is fast and can parse long strings with many elements. –
Unclassified
Why do you order n descending? If there where three items, and we started numbering at 1, then the first item will be number 3, and the last will be number 1. Wouldn't it give more intuitive results if the
desc were removed? –
Bond Agreed, would be more intuitive in the asc direction. I was following parsename() convention which uses desc –
Copeland
some explanation as to how this works would be great –
Simper
In a test on 100 million rows of up to 3 fields to parse, ufn_ParseArray did not finish after 25 minutes, while
REVERSE(PARSENAME(REPLACE(REVERSE('Hello John Smith'), ' ', '.'), 1)) from @Extraversion completed in 1.5min. @Deneb How would your solution compare on longer strings with more than 4 fields? –
Verbatim On further investigation, when the @Extraversion version is embedded in a function and used from there, it performs 25 times worse than when used directly in a query. Can anyone comment on why? –
Verbatim
@Verbatim Try using a physical number table with a clustered index. The usage of master..spt_values is just for illustration –
Copeland
@Verbatim added a physical number table example –
Copeland
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','**')
Didn't work for select * from dbo.ethos_SplitString_fn('guy,wicks,was here',',') id part ----------- -------------------------------------------------- 1 guy 2 wick –
Whitehorse
watch out with len() as it'll not return correct number if its argument has trailing spaces., e.g. len(' - ') = 2. –
Kittie
Doesn't work on: select * from dbo.SplitString('foo,foo test,,,,foo',',') –
Factorage
Fix for cbp.. Select @myString = substring(@mystring,@iSpaces + len(@deliminator),len(@myString) - charindex(@deliminator,@myString,0)) –
Chong
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',' ')
I liked this solution. Expanded it to return a scalar value based on the specified column within the results. –
Exchequer
I got burned with an '&' in the string to be split using this –
Soldierly
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()));
}
};
I guess this is too much complicated, because I need to have Visual Studio, then enable CLR on the server, then create and compile the project, and finally add the assemblies to the database, in order to use it. But still is an interesting answer. –
Gardell
@guillegr123, it doesn't have to be complicated. You can just download and install (for free!), SQL#, which is a library of SQLCLR functions and procs. You can get it from SQLsharp.com . Yes, I am the author but String_Split is included in the Free version. –
Collard
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 used your answer but did not work, but i modified and this worked with union all, i am using sql 2005 –
Trinitrobenzene
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 is really great i've ever seen in sql stuff, it worked for my job and i appreciate that, thanks ! –
Plurality
I got really excited when I saw this because it looked so clean and easy to understand, but unfortunately you can't put this inside a UDF because of the
EXEC. EXEC implicitly calls a stored procedure, and you can't use stored procedures in UDFs. –
Parturient This Works perfectly!! i was looking into using a function(SplitStrings_Moden) from here: sqlperformance.com/2012/07/t-sql-queries/split-strings#comments that does this and it was taking a minute and a half to split the data and return the rows when only using 4 account numbers. I tested your version with a left join on the table with the data on account numbers and it took like 2 or 3 seconds! Huge difference and works flawlessly! I'd give this 20 votes if possible! –
Kevinkevina
Vulnerable to sql injection –
Ferullo
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.
This is the only solution here which allows you to cast to specific types, and is moderately efficient (CLR still is most efficient, but this approach handles an 8gb, 10 token, 10M row table in about 9 mins (aws m3 server, 4k iops provisioned drive) –
Microlith
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
I like this solution as an option to return a single substring as opposed to getting a parsed table that you then need to select from. Using a table result has its uses, but for what I needed this worked perfectly. –
Hydr
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';
The trick is in the OFFSET 1 ROWS, which will skip the first item and will return the second item. If your indexes are 0-based and @X is the variable holding the item index you want to fetch, you can sure do OFFSET @X ROWS –
Tirol
Okay, did not use this before... Nice to know... I'd still prefer the
xml-split based approach, as it allows to fetch the value type-safe and does not need a sub-query, but this is a good one. +1 from my side –
Agnusago the problem here is that STRING_SPLIT does not guarantee the order of the returned results. So your item 1 may or may not be my item 1. –
Tuneful
@GorgiRankovski, Using
STRING_SPLIT demands for v2016+. In this case it is much better to use OPENJSON or JSON_VALUE. You might want to check my answer –
Agnusago 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')
I've gone through it & it is perfectly like what I want! even I can also customize it for ignoring special characters that I choose! –
Didier
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
You can't easily access the Nth item using this function. –
Handsel
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
SQL Server 2022 supports the following signature of STRING_SPLIT:
STRING_SPLIT ( string , separator [ , enable_ordinal ] )
When enable_ordinal flag is set to 1 the result will include a column named ordinal that consists of the 1‑based position of the substring within the input string:
SELECT *
FROM STRING_SPLIT('hello john smith', ' ', 1)
| value | ordinal |
|-------|---------|
| hello | 1 |
| john | 2 |
| smith | 3 |
This allows us to do this:
SELECT value
FROM STRING_SPLIT('hello john smith', ' ', 1)
WHERE ordinal = 2
| value |
|-------|
| john |
Or this:
SELECT str, substr
FROM (VALUES
('hello john smith'),
('hello jane'),
('hello')
) AS t(str)
OUTER APPLY (
SELECT value
FROM STRING_SPLIT(str, ' ', 1)
WHERE ordinal = 2
) AS a(substr)
| str | substr |
|------------------|--------|
| hello john smith | john |
| hello jane | jane |
| hello | null |
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
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'
-- https://mcmap.net/q/74883/-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'
-- https://mcmap.net/q/74883/-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);
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
This is to complicated... No need for
.nodes(). You can place the XQuery into .value() directly (see my answer). Btw: Scalar funcitons are very bad performers. Much better was an inline TVF, even if it returns just one cell in one row... –
Agnusago This is slow, but it does actually work, thanks. [unlike the junk ChatGPT spat out.. maybe stackoverflow needs a new name, for when ChatGPT can't, Stackoverflow can] –
Mahound
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 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.
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
Recursive CTE solution with server pain, test it
MS SQL Server 2008 Schema Setup:
create table Course( Courses varchar(100) );
insert into Course values ('Hello John Smith');
Query 1:
with cte as
( select
left( Courses, charindex( ' ' , Courses) ) as a_l,
cast( substring( Courses,
charindex( ' ' , Courses) + 1 ,
len(Courses ) ) + ' '
as varchar(100) ) as a_r,
Courses as a,
0 as n
from Course t
union all
select
left(a_r, charindex( ' ' , a_r) ) as a_l,
substring( a_r, charindex( ' ' , a_r) + 1 , len(a_R ) ) as a_r,
cte.a,
cte.n + 1 as n
from Course t inner join cte
on t.Courses = cte.a and len( a_r ) > 0
)
select a_l, n from cte
--where N = 1
| A_L | N |
|--------|---|
| Hello | 0 |
| John | 1 |
| Smith | 2 |
while similar to the xml based answer by josejuan, i found that processing the xml path only once, then pivoting was moderately more efficient:
select ID,
[3] as PathProvidingID,
[4] as PathProvider,
[5] as ComponentProvidingID,
[6] as ComponentProviding,
[7] as InputRecievingID,
[8] as InputRecieving,
[9] as RowsPassed,
[10] as InputRecieving2
from
(
select id,message,d.* from sysssislog cross apply (
SELECT Item = y.i.value('(./text())[1]', 'varchar(200)'),
row_number() over(order by y.i) as rn
FROM
(
SELECT x = CONVERT(XML, '<i>' + REPLACE(Message, ':', '</i><i>') + '</i>').query('.')
) AS a CROSS APPLY x.nodes('i') AS y(i)
) d
WHERE event
=
'OnPipelineRowsSent'
) as tokens
pivot
( max(item) for [rn] in ([3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10])
) as data
ran in 8:30
select id,
tokens.value('(/n[3])', 'varchar(100)')as PathProvidingID,
tokens.value('(/n[4])', 'varchar(100)') as PathProvider,
tokens.value('(/n[5])', 'varchar(100)') as ComponentProvidingID,
tokens.value('(/n[6])', 'varchar(100)') as ComponentProviding,
tokens.value('(/n[7])', 'varchar(100)') as InputRecievingID,
tokens.value('(/n[8])', 'varchar(100)') as InputRecieving,
tokens.value('(/n[9])', 'varchar(100)') as RowsPassed
from
(
select id, Convert(xml,'<n>'+Replace(message,'.','</n><n>')+'</n>') tokens
from sysssislog
WHERE event
=
'OnPipelineRowsSent'
) as data
ran in 9:20
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnSplitString]
(
@string NVARCHAR(MAX),
@delimiter CHAR(1)
)
RETURNS @output TABLE(splitdata NVARCHAR(MAX)
)
BEGIN
DECLARE @start INT, @end INT
SELECT @start = 1, @end = CHARINDEX(@delimiter, @string)
WHILE @start < LEN(@string) + 1 BEGIN
IF @end = 0
SET @end = LEN(@string) + 1
INSERT INTO @output (splitdata)
VALUES(SUBSTRING(@string, @start, @end - @start))
SET @start = @end + 1
SET @end = CHARINDEX(@delimiter, @string, @start)
END
RETURN
END
AND USE IT
select *from dbo.fnSplitString('Querying SQL Server','')
if anyone wants to get only one part of the seperatured text can use this
select * from fromSplitStringSep('Word1 wordr2 word3',' ')
CREATE function [dbo].[SplitStringSep]
(
@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
)
I devoloped this,
declare @x nvarchar(Max) = 'ali.veli.deli.';
declare @item nvarchar(Max);
declare @splitter char='.';
while CHARINDEX(@splitter,@x) != 0
begin
set @item = LEFT(@x,CHARINDEX(@splitter,@x))
set @x = RIGHT(@x,len(@x)-len(@item) )
select @item as item, @x as x;
end
the only attention you should is dot '.' that end of the @x is always should be there.
declare @strng varchar(max)='hello john smith'
select (
substring(
@strng,
charindex(' ', @strng) + 1,
(
(charindex(' ', @strng, charindex(' ', @strng) + 1))
- charindex(' ',@strng)
)
))
building on @NothingsImpossible solution, or, rather, comment on the most voted answer (just below the accepted one), i found the following quick-and-dirty solution fulfill my own needs - it has a benefit of being solely within SQL domain.
given a string "first;second;third;fourth;fifth", say, I want to get the third token. this works only if we know how many tokens the string is going to have - in this case it's 5. so my way of action is to chop the last two tokens away (inner query), and then to chop the first two tokens away (outer query)
i know that this is ugly and covers the specific conditions i was in, but am posting it just in case somebody finds it useful. cheers
select
REVERSE(
SUBSTRING(
reverse_substring,
0,
CHARINDEX(';', reverse_substring)
)
)
from
(
select
msg,
SUBSTRING(
REVERSE(msg),
CHARINDEX(
';',
REVERSE(msg),
CHARINDEX(
';',
REVERSE(msg)
)+1
)+1,
1000
) reverse_substring
from
(
select 'first;second;third;fourth;fifth' msg
) a
) b
this works only if we know how many tokens the string is going to have - a breaking limitation... –
Agnusago
Starting with SQL Server 2016 we string_split
DECLARE @string varchar(100) = 'Richard, Mike, Mark'
SELECT value FROM string_split(@string, ',')
This is well and good, but it doesn't address the question of getting the nth result. –
Scratch
STRING_SPLIT does not guarantee to return the same order. But OPENJSON does (see my answer (update section)) –
Agnusago 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.
STRING_SPLIT does not guarantee to return the same order. But OPENJSON does (see my answer (update section)) –
Agnusago 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
);
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')
)
CREATE TABLE test(
id int,
adress varchar(100)
);
INSERT INTO test VALUES(1, 'Ludovic Aubert, 42 rue de la Victoire, 75009, Paris, France'),(2, 'Jose Garcia, 1 Calle de la Victoria, 56500 Barcelona, Espana');
SELECT id, value, COUNT(*) OVER (PARTITION BY id) AS n, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY id ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) AS rn, adress
FROM test
CROSS APPLY STRING_SPLIT(adress, ',')
Modified function of @Aaron Bertrand
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString]
(
@List NVARCHAR(MAX),
@Delim VARCHAR(255),
@Idx int
)
RETURNS NVARCHAR(1000)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @ValueTable TABLE(String NVARCHAR(50), Ind int)
DECLARE @Value NVARCHAR(50)
BEGIN
INSERT INTO @ValueTable
SELECT Value, idx FROM
(SELECT [Value], idx = RANK() OVER (ORDER BY n) FROM
(
SELECT n = Number,
[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
) AS R WHERE idx = @Idx
SET @Value = (SELECT String FROM @ValueTable)
END
RETURN @Value
END
GO
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.
an example of doing it in .NET (CLR Procedures/functions) can be found here cstruter.com/blog/260 –
Coulee
I realize this is a really old question, but starting with SQL Server 2016 there are functions for parsing JSON data that can be used to specifically address the OP's question--and without splitting strings or resorting to a user-defined function. To access an item at a particular index of a delimited string, use the JSON_VALUE function. Properly formatted JSON data is required, however: strings must be enclosed in double quotes " and the delimiter must be a comma ,, with the entire string enclosed in square brackets [].
DECLARE @SampleString NVARCHAR(MAX) = '"Hello John Smith"';
--Format as JSON data.
SET @SampleString = '[' + REPLACE(@SampleString, ' ', '","') + ']';
SELECT
JSON_VALUE(@SampleString, '$[0]') AS Element1Value,
JSON_VALUE(@SampleString, '$[1]') AS Element2Value,
JSON_VALUE(@SampleString, '$[2]') AS Element3Value;
Output
Element1Value Element2Value Element3Value
--------------------- ------------------- ------------------------------
Hello John Smith
(1 row affected)
Using SQL Server 2016 and above. Use this code to TRIM strings, ignore NULL values and apply a row index in the correct order. It also works with a space delimiter:
DECLARE @STRING_VALUE NVARCHAR(MAX) = 'one, two,,three, four, five'
SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY R.[index]) [index], R.[value] FROM
(
SELECT
1 [index], NULLIF(TRIM([value]), '') [value] FROM STRING_SPLIT(@STRING_VALUE, ',') T
WHERE
NULLIF(TRIM([value]), '') IS NOT NULL
) R
If you check the following SQL tutorial on splitting string using SQL, you will find a number of functions that can be used to split a given string on SQL Server
For example, SplitAndReturnNth UDF function can be used to split a text using a separator and return the Nth piece as the output of the function
select dbo.SplitAndReturnNth('Hello John Smith',' ',2)
Here's my solution that may help someone. Modification of Jonesinator's answer above.
If I have a string of delimited INT values and want a table of INTs returned (Which I can then join on). e.g. '1,20,3,343,44,6,8765'
Create a UDF:
IF OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.ufn_GetIntTableFromDelimitedList', N'TF') IS NOT NULL
DROP FUNCTION dbo.[ufn_GetIntTableFromDelimitedList];
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.[ufn_GetIntTableFromDelimitedList](@String NVARCHAR(MAX), @Delimiter CHAR(1))
RETURNS @table TABLE
(
Value INT NOT NULL
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @Pattern NVARCHAR(3)
SET @Pattern = '%' + @Delimiter + '%'
DECLARE @Value NVARCHAR(MAX)
WHILE LEN(@String) > 0
BEGIN
IF PATINDEX(@Pattern, @String) > 0
BEGIN
SET @Value = SUBSTRING(@String, 0, PATINDEX(@Pattern, @String))
INSERT INTO @table (Value) VALUES (@Value)
SET @String = SUBSTRING(@String, LEN(@Value + @Delimiter) + 1, LEN(@String))
END
ELSE
BEGIN
-- Just the one value.
INSERT INTO @table (Value) VALUES (@String)
RETURN
END
END
RETURN
END
GO
Then get the table results:
SELECT * FROM dbo.[ufn_GetIntTableFromDelimitedList]('1,20,3,343,44,6,8765', ',')
1
20
3
343
44
6
8765
And in a join statement:
SELECT [ID], [FirstName]
FROM [User] u
JOIN dbo.[ufn_GetIntTableFromDelimitedList]('1,20,3,343,44,6,8765', ',') t ON u.[ID] = t.[Value]
1 Elvis
20 Karen
3 David
343 Simon
44 Raj
6 Mike
8765 Richard
If you want to return a list of NVARCHARs instead of INTs then just change the table definition:
RETURNS @table TABLE
(
Value NVARCHAR(MAX) NOT NULL
)
Here is a SQL UDF that can split a string and grab just a certain piece.
create FUNCTION [dbo].[udf_SplitParseOut]
(
@List nvarchar(MAX),
@SplitOn nvarchar(5),
@GetIndex smallint
)
returns varchar(1000)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @RtnValue table
(
Id int identity(0,1),
Value nvarchar(MAX)
)
DECLARE @result varchar(1000)
While (Charindex(@SplitOn,@List)>0)
Begin
Insert Into @RtnValue (value)
Select Value = ltrim(rtrim(Substring(@List,1,Charindex(@SplitOn,@List)-1)))
Set @List = Substring(@List,Charindex(@SplitOn,@List)+len(@SplitOn),len(@List))
End
Insert Into @RtnValue (Value)
Select Value = ltrim(rtrim(@List))
select @result = value from @RtnValue where ID = @GetIndex
Return @result
END
A simple optimized algorithm :
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[Split]( @Text NVARCHAR(200),@Splitor CHAR(1) )
RETURNS @Result TABLE ( value NVARCHAR(50))
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @PathInd INT
Set @Text+=@Splitor
WHILE LEN(@Text) > 0
BEGIN
SET @PathInd=PATINDEX('%'+@Splitor+'%',@Text)
INSERT INTO @Result VALUES(SUBSTRING(@Text, 0, @PathInd))
SET @Text= SUBSTRING(@Text, @PathInd+1, LEN(@Text))
END
RETURN
END
I've been using vzczc's answer using recursive cte's for some time, but have wanted to update it to handle a variable length separator and also to handle strings with leading and lagging "separators" such as when you have a csv file with records such as:
"Bob","Smith","Sunnyvale","CA"
or when you are dealing with six part fqn's as shown below. I use these extensively for logging of the subject_fqn for auditing, error handling, etc. and parsename only handles four parts:
[netbios_name].[machine_name].[instance].[database].[schema].[table].[column]
Here is my updated version, and thanks to vzczc's for his original post!
select * from [utility].[split_string](N'"this"."string"."gets"."split"."and"."removes"."leading"."and"."trailing"."quotes"', N'"."', N'"', N'"');
select * from [utility].[split_string](N'"this"."string"."gets"."split"."but"."leaves"."leading"."and"."trailing"."quotes"', N'"."', null, null);
select * from [utility].[split_string](N'[netbios_name].[machine_name].[instance].[database].[schema].[table].[column]', N'].[', N'[', N']');
create function [utility].[split_string] (
@input [nvarchar](max)
, @separator [sysname]
, @lead [sysname]
, @lag [sysname])
returns @node_list table (
[index] [int]
, [node] [nvarchar](max))
begin
declare @separator_length [int]= len(@separator)
, @lead_length [int] = isnull(len(@lead), 0)
, @lag_length [int] = isnull(len(@lag), 0);
--
set @input = right(@input, len(@input) - @lead_length);
set @input = left(@input, len(@input) - @lag_length);
--
with [splitter]([index], [starting_position], [start_location])
as (select cast(@separator_length as [bigint])
, cast(1 as [bigint])
, charindex(@separator, @input)
union all
select [index] + 1
, [start_location] + @separator_length
, charindex(@separator, @input, [start_location] + @separator_length)
from [splitter]
where [start_location] > 0)
--
insert into @node_list
([index],[node])
select [index] - @separator_length as [index]
, substring(@input, [starting_position], case
when [start_location] > 0
then
[start_location] - [starting_position]
else
len(@input)
end) as [node]
from [splitter];
--
return;
end;
go
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STRING_SPLIT??? – Cockleshellstring_splitwith ordinal. See https://mcmap.net/q/73638/-how-do-i-split-a-delimited-string-so-i-can-access-individual-items – Lamarckism