I have a table with a field consisting of multiple strings seperated by a '+'.
Each part of the string has a length of either 2 or 3 chars. Example: 'ab+cde+fg'
.
Each row has 1 to 3 parts (so some rows don't need spliting). The above example should return 3 rows: 'ab'
, 'cd'
and 'fg'
.
I have searched the internet for stored procedures, but none seem to work for my particular needs. I don't have the SQL-skills myself to write such procedure.
The general algorithm works like this:
DECLARE input CHAR(100);
DECLARE separator_position INTEGER;
SET input = 'AA+CCC+D';
CREATE TABLE
#output
(
part CHAR(10)
);
SET separator_position = POSITION('+' IN input);
WHILE separator_position > 0 DO
INSERT INTO #output (part) VALUES (SUBSTRING(input, 1, separator_position - 1));
SET input = SUBSTRING(input, separator_position + 1, 100);
SET separator_position = POSITION('+' IN input);
END WHILE;
INSERT INTO #output(part) VALUES (SUBSTRING(input, 1, 10));
SELECT * FROM #output;
This code will insert 3 rows AA
, CCC
, D
into the temporary table #output.
Here is a version that works with multi character delimiters and also contains a part counter:
DECLARE @input STRING;
DECLARE @delimiter_position INTEGER;
DECLARE @delimiter STRING;
TRY DROP TABLE #output; CATCH ALL END TRY;
SET @delimiter = CHAR(13) + CHAR(10);
SET @input = 'AA' + CHAR(13) + CHAR(10) + 'CCC' + CHAR(13) + CHAR(10) + 'D';
CREATE TABLE
#output
(
counter AUTOINC
, part CHAR(10)
);
SET @delimiter_position = POSITION(@delimiter IN @input);
WHILE @delimiter_position > 0 DO
INSERT INTO #output (part) VALUES (LEFT(@input, @delimiter_position - 1));
SET @input = RIGHT(@input, LENGTH(@input) - (@delimiter_position + LENGTH(@delimiter)) + 1);
SET @delimiter_position = POSITION(@delimiter IN @input);
END WHILE;
INSERT INTO #output(part) VALUES (LEFT(@input, LENGTH(@input)));
SELECT * FROM #output;