Split function equivalent in T-SQL?

Here is somewhat old-fashioned solution:

/*
    Splits string into parts delimitered with specified character.
*/
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SDF_SplitString]
(
    @sString nvarchar(2048),
    @cDelimiter nchar(1)
)
RETURNS @tParts TABLE ( part nvarchar(2048) )
AS
BEGIN
    if @sString is null return
    declare @iStart int,
            @iPos int
    if substring( @sString, 1, 1 ) = @cDelimiter 
    begin
        set @iStart = 2
        insert into @tParts
        values( null )
    end
    else 
        set @iStart = 1
    while 1=1
    begin
        set @iPos = charindex( @cDelimiter, @sString, @iStart )
        if @iPos = 0
            set @iPos = len( @sString )+1
        if @iPos - @iStart > 0          
            insert into @tParts
            values  ( substring( @sString, @iStart, @iPos-@iStart ))
        else
            insert into @tParts
            values( null )
        set @iStart = @iPos+1
        if @iStart > len( @sString ) 
            break
    end
    RETURN

END

In SQL Server 2008 you can achieve the same with .NET code. Maybe it would work faster, but definitely this approach is easier to manage.

DECLARE
    @InputString NVARCHAR(MAX) = 'token1,token2,token3,token4,token5'
    , @delimiter varchar(10) = ','

DECLARE @xml AS XML = CAST(('<X>'+REPLACE(@InputString,@delimiter ,'</X><X>')+'</X>') AS XML)
SELECT C.value('.', 'varchar(10)') AS value
FROM @xml.nodes('X') as X(C)

Source of this response: http://sqlhint.com/sqlserver/how-to/best-split-function-tsql-delimited

I am tempted to squeeze in my favourite solution. The resulting table will consist of 2 columns: PosIdx for position of the found integer; and Value in integer.

create function FnSplitToTableInt
(
    @param nvarchar(4000)
)
returns table as
return
    with Numbers(Number) as 
    (
        select 1 
        union all 
        select Number + 1 from Numbers where Number < 4000
    ),
    Found as
    (
        select 
            Number as PosIdx,
            convert(int, ltrim(rtrim(convert(nvarchar(4000), 
                substring(@param, Number, 
                charindex(N',' collate Latin1_General_BIN, 
                @param + N',', Number) - Number))))) as Value
        from   
            Numbers 
        where  
            Number <= len(@param)
        and substring(N',' + @param, Number, 1) = N',' collate Latin1_General_BIN
    )
    select 
        PosIdx, 
        case when isnumeric(Value) = 1 
            then convert(int, Value) 
            else convert(int, null) end as Value 
    from 
        Found

It works by using recursive CTE as the list of positions, from 1 to 100 by default. If you need to work with string longer than 100, simply call this function using 'option (maxrecursion 4000)' like the following:

select * from FnSplitToTableInt
(
    '9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, ' + 
    '9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, ' +
    '9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, ' +
    '9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, ' +
    '9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0'
) 
option (maxrecursion 4000)

This simple CTE will give what's needed:

DECLARE @csv varchar(max) = '1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15';
--append comma to the list for CTE to work correctly
SET @csv = @csv + ',';
--remove double commas (empty entries)
SET @csv = replace(@csv, ',,', ',');
WITH CteCsv AS (
    SELECT CHARINDEX(',', @csv) idx, SUBSTRING(@csv, 1, CHARINDEX(',', @csv) - 1) [Value]
    UNION ALL
    SELECT CHARINDEX(',', @csv, idx + 1), SUBSTRING(@csv, idx + 1, CHARINDEX(',', @csv, idx + 1) - idx - 1) FROM CteCsv
    WHERE CHARINDEX(',', @csv, idx + 1) > 0
)

SELECT [Value] FROM CteCsv

This works great for me https://www.sqlshack.com/the-string-split-function-in-sql-server/

After two hours of resarching this topic this is the simplest solution (without using XML ect.).

You should only remember to use string_split after from.

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #Countries
GO
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #CityList
GO
CREATE TABLE #Countries
(Continent VARCHAR(100),
Country VARCHAR(100))
GO
CREATE TABLE #CityList
(Country VARCHAR(100),
City VARCHAR(5000))
GO
INSERT INTO  #Countries
VALUES('Europe','France'),('Europe','Germany') 
 
INSERT INTO #CityList
VALUES('France','Paris,Marsilya,Lyon,Lille,Nice'), ('Germany','Berlin,Hamburg,Munih,Frankfurt,Koln')
 
SELECT 
CN.Continent,CN.Country,value
FROM #CityList CL CROSS APPLY string_split(CL.City,',')  INNER JOIN 
#Countries CN ON  CL.Country = CN.Country
 
 
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #Countries
GO
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #CityList