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"?
46 Answers
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?
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
First, create a function (using CTE, common table expression does away with the need for a temp table)
create function dbo.SplitString
(
@str nvarchar(4000),
@separator char(1)
)
returns table
AS
return (
with tokens(p, a, b) AS (
select
1,
1,
charindex(@separator, @str)
union all
select
p + 1,
b + 1,
charindex(@separator, @str, b + 1)
from tokens
where b > 0
)
select
p-1 zeroBasedOccurance,
substring(
@str,
a,
case when b > 0 then b-a ELSE 4000 end)
AS s
from tokens
)
GO
Then, use it as any table (or modify it to fit within your existing stored proc) like this.
select s
from dbo.SplitString('Hello John Smith', ' ')
where zeroBasedOccurance=1
Update
Previous version would fail for input string longer than 4000 chars. This version takes care of the limitation:
create function dbo.SplitString
(
@str nvarchar(max),
@separator char(1)
)
returns table
AS
return (
with tokens(p, a, b) AS (
select
cast(1 as bigint),
cast(1 as bigint),
charindex(@separator, @str)
union all
select
p + 1,
b + 1,
charindex(@separator, @str, b + 1)
from tokens
where b > 0
)
select
p-1 ItemIndex,
substring(
@str,
a,
case when b > 0 then b-a ELSE LEN(@str) end)
AS s
from tokens
);
GO
Usage remains the same.
Most of the solutions here use while loops or recursive CTEs. A set-based approach will be superior, I promise, 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():
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.
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','**')
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')
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
In Azure SQL Database (based on Microsoft SQL Server but not exactly the same thing) the signature of STRING_SPLIT function looks like:
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 |
If enable_ordinal is not available then there is a trick which assumes that the substrings with the input string are unique. In this scenario, CHAR_INDEX could be used to find the position of the substring within the input string:
SELECT value, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY CHARINDEX(value, input_str)) AS ord_pos
FROM (VALUES
('hello john smith')
) AS x(input_str)
CROSS APPLY STRING_SPLIT(input_str, ' ')
| value | ord_pos |
|-------+---------|
| hello | 1 |
| john | 2 |
| smith | 3 |
Here is a function that will accomplish the question's goal of splitting a string and accessing item X:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString]
(
@List VARCHAR(MAX),
@Delimiter VARCHAR(255),
@ElementNumber INT
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @inp VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @inp = (SELECT REPLACE(@List,@Delimiter,'_DELMTR_') FOR XML PATH(''))
DECLARE @xml XML
SET @xml = '<split><el>' + REPLACE(@inp,'_DELMTR_','</el><el>') + '</el></split>'
DECLARE @ret VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @ret = (SELECT
el = split.el.value('.','varchar(max)')
FROM @xml.nodes('/split/el[string-length(.)>0][position() = sql:variable("@elementnumber")]') split(el))
RETURN @ret
END
Usage:
SELECT dbo.SplitString('Hello John Smith', ' ', 2)
Result:
John
SIMPLE SOLUTION FOR PARSING FIRST AND LAST NAME
DECLARE @Name varchar(10) = 'John Smith'
-- Get First Name
SELECT SUBSTRING(@Name, 0, (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', @Name)))
-- Get Last Name
SELECT SUBSTRING(@Name, (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', @Name)) + 1, LEN(@Name))
In my case (and in many others it seems...), I have a list of first and last names separated by a single space. This can be used directly inside a select statement to parse first and last name.
-- i.e. Get First and Last Name from a table of Full Names
SELECT SUBSTRING(FullName, 0, (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', FullName))) as FirstName,
SUBSTRING(FullName, (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', FullName)) + 1, LEN(FullName)) as LastName,
From FullNameTable
I know its late, but I recently had this requirement and came up with the below code. I don't have a choice to use User defined function. Hope this helps.
SELECT
SUBSTRING(
SUBSTRING('Hello John Smith' ,0,CHARINDEX(' ','Hello John Smith',CHARINDEX(' ','Hello John Smith')+1)
),CHARINDEX(' ','Hello John Smith'),LEN('Hello John Smith')
)
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.
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)
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