How Do I Split a Delimited String in SQL Server Without Creating a Function?

Question

I\'m working with a SQL Server database. I have a column which contains a delimited list, and I need to write a query which splits the values of the list into rows. From bro

Answer 1

A version using XML.

declare @S varchar(100) = 'Hello John Smith'

select 
  n.r.value('.', 'varchar(50)')
from (select cast('<r>'+replace(@S, ' ', '</r><r>')+'</r>' as xml)) as s(XMLCol)
  cross apply s.XMLCol.nodes('r') as n(r)

Using a table instead Replace @T with what ever table you are using.

-- Test table
declare @T table (ID int, Col varchar(100))
insert into @T values (1, 'Hello John Smith')
insert into @T values (2, 'xxx yyy zzz')

select 
  T.ID,
  n.r.value('.', 'varchar(50)')
from @T as T
  cross apply (select cast('<r>'+replace(replace(Col,'&','&amp;'), ' ', '</r><r>')+'</r>' as xml)) as S(XMLCol)
  cross apply S.XMLCol.nodes('r') as n(r)

Splitting the string 'Hello John Smith' without using a variable

select 
  n.r.value('.', 'varchar(50)')
from (select cast('<r>'+replace('Hello John Smith', ' ', '</r><r>')+'</r>' as xml)) as s(XMLCol)
  cross apply s.XMLCol.nodes('r') as n(r)

Answer 2

For late comers to this question, the article at http://www.sqlperformance.com/2012/07/t-sql-queries/split-strings provides an excellent analysis of performance for various options. Some of the options considered include (copied from the site for reference):

CLR

.Net code at http://dataeducation.com/sqlclr-string-splitting-part-2-even-faster-even-more-scalable/.

CREATE ASSEMBLY CLRUtilities FROM 'c:\DLLs\CLRUtilities.dll' 
  WITH PERMISSION_SET = SAFE;
GO

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitStrings_CLR
(
   @List      NVARCHAR(MAX),
   @Delimiter NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE ( Item NVARCHAR(4000) )
EXTERNAL NAME CLRUtilities.UserDefinedFunctions.SplitString_Multi;
GO

XML

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitStrings_XML
(
   @List       NVARCHAR(MAX),
   @Delimiter  NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
WITH SCHEMABINDING
AS
   RETURN 
   (  
      SELECT Item = y.i.value('(./text())[1]', 'nvarchar(4000)')
      FROM 
      ( 
        SELECT x = CONVERT(XML, '<i>' 
          + REPLACE(@List, @Delimiter, '</i><i>') 
          + '</i>').query('.')
      ) AS a CROSS APPLY x.nodes('i') AS y(i)
   );
GO

CTE

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitStrings_CTE
(
   @List       NVARCHAR(MAX),
   @Delimiter  NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS @Items TABLE (Item NVARCHAR(4000))
WITH SCHEMABINDING
AS
BEGIN
   DECLARE @ll INT = LEN(@List) + 1, @ld INT = LEN(@Delimiter);

   WITH a AS
   (
       SELECT
           [start] = 1,
           [end]   = COALESCE(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, 
                       @List, @ld), 0), @ll),
           [value] = SUBSTRING(@List, 1, 
                     COALESCE(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, 
                       @List, @ld), 0), @ll) - 1)
       UNION ALL
       SELECT
           [start] = CONVERT(INT, [end]) + @ld,
           [end]   = COALESCE(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, 
                       @List, [end] + @ld), 0), @ll),
           [value] = SUBSTRING(@List, [end] + @ld, 
                     COALESCE(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, 
                       @List, [end] + @ld), 0), @ll)-[end]-@ld)
       FROM a
       WHERE [end] < @ll
   )
   INSERT @Items SELECT [value]
   FROM a
   WHERE LEN([value]) > 0
   OPTION (MAXRECURSION 0);

   RETURN;
END
GO

Function

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitStrings_Moden
(
   @List NVARCHAR(MAX),
   @Delimiter NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
WITH SCHEMABINDING AS
RETURN
  WITH E1(N)        AS ( SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 
                         UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 
                         UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1),
       E2(N)        AS (SELECT 1 FROM E1 a, E1 b),
       E4(N)        AS (SELECT 1 FROM E2 a, E2 b),
       E42(N)       AS (SELECT 1 FROM E4 a, E2 b),
       cteTally(N)  AS (SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT TOP (DATALENGTH(ISNULL(@List,1))) 
                         ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM E42),
       cteStart(N1) AS (SELECT t.N+1 FROM cteTally t
                         WHERE (SUBSTRING(@List,t.N,1) = @Delimiter OR t.N = 0))
  SELECT Item = SUBSTRING(@List, s.N1, ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(@Delimiter,@List,s.N1),0)-s.N1,8000))
    FROM cteStart s;

It turns out, the best performance comes from using the CLR function while the XML solution also does well. In nearly all cases, using a numbers table (the approach was not duplicated above) lead to the worst performance.

Answer 3

Have you looked at the numbers table?

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/62867/

http://bradsruminations.blogspot.com/2010/08/integer-list-splitting-sql-fable.html

Answer 4

 DECLARE @cols  AS NVARCHAR(max), 
        @Val   VARCHAR(100)='Hi- Hello break this-Wall', 
        @Deli  VARCHAR(50)='-', 
        @query AS NVARCHAR(max) 

SELECT @cols = Stuff((SELECT ',' + Quotename(id) 
                      FROM   (SELECT stringpieceid AS ID, 
                                     stringpiece 
                              FROM 
                     [Utility].[dbo].[Splitstringtotable](@Val, @Deli)) 
                             X 
                      FOR xml path(''), type).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)'), 1, 1, 
               '') 

SELECT @query = 
'SELECT * FROM (SELECT StringPieceID as ID,StringPiece from [Utility].[dbo].[SplitStringToTable](''' 
         + @Val + ''',''' + @Deli + '''))X PIVOT  (     MAX(StringPiece)     for [ID] in (' + @cols 
         + ') ) P' 

PRINT @query 

EXEC Sp_executesql 
  @query 

Answer 5

USE TRIAL
GO

CREATE TABLE DETAILS
(
ID INT,
NAME VARCHAR(50),
ADDRESS VARCHAR(50)
)

INSERT INTO DETAILS
VALUES (100, 'POPE-JOHN-PAUL','VATICAN CIT|ROME|ITALY')
,(240, 'SIR-PAUL-McARTNEY','NEWYORK CITY|NEWYORK|USA')
,(460,'BARRACK-HUSSEIN-OBAMA','WHITE HOUSE|WASHINGTON|USA')
,(700, 'PRESIDENT-VLADAMIR-PUTIN','RED SQUARE|MOSCOW|RUSSIA')
,(950, 'NARENDRA-DAMODARDAS-MODI','10 JANPATH|NEW DELHI|INDIA')

select [ID]
,[NAME]
,[ADDRESS]
,REPLACE(LEFT(NAME, CHARINDEX('-', NAME)),'-',' ') as First_Name
,CASE 
WHEN CHARINDEX('-',REVERSE(NAME))+ CHARINDEX('-',NAME) < LEN(NAME)
THEN  SUBSTRING(NAME, CHARINDEX('-', (NAME)) + 1, LEN(NAME) - CHARINDEX('-' 
, REVERSE(NAME)) - CHARINDEX('-', NAME))
  ELSE 'NULL
  END AS Middle_Name
,REPLACE(REVERSE( SUBSTRING( REVERSE(NAME), 1, CHARINDEX('- 
',REVERSE(NAME)))), '-','') AS Last_Name 
,REPLACE(LEFT(ADDRESS, CHARINDEX('|', ADDRESS)),'|',' ') AS Locality
,CASE 
    WHEN CHARINDEX('|',REVERSE(ADDRESS))+ CHARINDEX('|',ADDRESS) < 
  LEN(ADDRESS) 
 THEN SUBSTRING(ADDRESS, CHARINDEX('|', (ADDRESS))+1, LEN(ADDRESS)- 
CHARINDEX('|', REVERSE(ADDRESS))-CHARINDEX('|',ADDRESS))
  ELSE 'Null' 
END AS STATE
,REPLACE(REVERSE(SUBSTRING(REVERSE(ADDRESS),1 
,CHARINDEX('|',REVERSE(ADDRESS)))),'|','') AS Country
 FROM DETAILS
  SELECT CHARINDEX('-', REVERSE(NAME)) AS LAST,CHARINDEX('-',NAME)AS FIRST, 
 LEN(NAME) AS LENGTH
 FROM DETAILS

-- LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS UNDERSTANDING THE CODE

Answer 6

using a UDF makes the most sense it's flexible for all projects, the one I generally use is at my blog,

http://sqlthis.blogspot.com/2005/02/list-to-table.html

because it's written to take your input string and a delimiter, it can be any single character for a delimiter. I wrote the one at the link above, but then afterwards I found many sites publishing a similar solution, so parts may have been inspired from forums that I am a member of...

it works, and hopefully it will work for you as well.

edit 2017-08-09 as suggested, I've cloned the code block below. thanks!

CREATE FUNCTION udfListToTable (@HList VarChar(2000), @Delimiter CHAR(1))
RETURNS @ListTable TABLE (Field1 VARCHAR(6))
  AS
  BEGIN
  --By: Francisco Tapia
  --Date: 2/1/2005
  --Purpose: To convert a Comma delimited text to a Temp Variable table To help avoid dynamic sql
  -- Instead you can join the temp table or use it in your where clause if a field is IN the subquery
       DECLARE @FieldText as VarChar(6)

       IF RIGHT(RTRIM(@HLIST),1) <>@Delimiter
       SET @HList = @HList + @Delimiter

       WHILE CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @HList) > 0
       BEGIN
            IF CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @HList) > 0
            BEGIN
                 SELECT @FieldText =LEFT(@HList, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @HList)-1)
            END
       ELSE 
       BEGIN
            SELECT @FieldText = RTRIM(LTRIM(@HList))
       END
       --Insert into Variable Table
       INSERT INTO @ListTable(Field1)
       SELECT RTRIM(LTRIM(@FieldText))
       --Remove Item from list
       SELECT @HList = RIGHT(RTRIM(@HList), LEN(RTRIM(@HList)) -
            CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @HList))
       END 
       RETURN
  END