Question

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’?

Answer 1

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