How do I split a delimited string so I can access individual items?

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