emulating MySQL's substring_index() in PGSQL

Question

I would like to find an elegant way to emulate the behavior of MySQL\'s subtring_index() function in Postgres.

In MySQL, it\'s as easy as:

mysql>         


        

Answer 1

Here is how I implement (or emulate) MySQL's subtring_index() in PostgreSQL

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION public.substring_index (
  str text,
  delim text,
  count integer = 1,
  out substring_index text
)
RETURNS text AS
$body$
BEGIN
  IF count > 0 THEN
    substring_index = array_to_string((string_to_array(str, delim))[:count], delim);
  ELSE
    DECLARE
      _array TEXT[];
    BEGIN
      _array = string_to_array(str, delim);
      substring_index = array_to_string(_array[array_length(_array, 1) + count + 1:], delim);    
    END;  
  END IF;
END;
$body$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql'
IMMUTABLE
CALLED ON NULL INPUT
SECURITY INVOKER
COST 5;

and here is the example from mysql's documentation;

postgres=# SELECT substring_index('www.mysql.com', '.', 2);
 substring_index
-----------------
 www.mysql
(1 row)

postgres=# SELECT substring_index('www.mysql.com', '.', -2);
 substring_index
-----------------
 mysql.com
(1 row)

Answer 2

Always take the time to skim the manuals.

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/functions-string.html

If split_part(string text, delimiter text, field int) doesn't do what you want (and more, if I understand your MySQL function) then you'll need to explain where and why.