Splitting data field String value in Oracle SQl - sql

Question

I have a String Field value in Oracle SQL table. Is there any query so that I can split the string into new lines with certain number of equal characters in each line and the excess characters at the bottom?
eg- ABCDEFGHIJ
I want to have lines with equal number of characters 4 in each line as follows
ABCD
EFGH
IJ
The remainder of 2 letters should be at the bottom. Is it possible to achieve this using an Oracle sql query?

Answer 1

You can use a query like the one below using CONNECT BY and LEVEL based on the length of the string.
WITH d AS (SELECT 'ABCDEFGHIJ' AS str FROM DUAL)
SELECT SUBSTR (str, ((LEVEL - 1) * 4) + 1, 4) AS four_letters
FROM d
CONNECT BY LEVEL < (LENGTH (str) / 4) + 1;

Answer 2

If you have multiple rows, you can use OUTER APPLY with a hierarchical query:
SELECT s.split_value,
s.position
FROM table_name t
OUTER APPLY (
SELECT LEVEL AS position,
SUBSTR( t.value, 4 * LEVEL - 3, 4 ) AS split_value
FROM DUAL
CONNECT BY LEVEL <= CEIL( LENGTH( t.value ) / 4 )
) s
Which, for the sample data:
CREATE TABLE table_name ( value ) AS
SELECT 'ABCDEFGHIJ' FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT '123456789012' FROM DUAL;
Outputs:
SPLIT_VALUE | POSITION
:---------- | -------:
ABCD | 1
EFGH | 2
IJ | 3
1234 | 1
5678 | 2
9012 | 3
db<>fiddle here
Update
if I want to have like 36 words characters in a line how can I modify your 1st answer?
SELECT s.split_value,
s.position
FROM table_name t
OUTER APPLY (
SELECT LEVEL AS position,
SUBSTR( t.value, 36 * ( LEVEL - 1 ) + 1, 36 ) AS split_value
FROM DUAL
CONNECT BY LEVEL <= CEIL( LENGTH( t.value ) / 36 )
) s
Which, for the sample data:
CREATE TABLE table_name ( value ) AS
SELECT 'ABCDEFGHIJ' FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT '________10________20________30________40________50________60________70________80' FROM DUAL;
Outputs:
SPLIT_VALUE | POSITION
:----------------------------------- | -------:
ABCDEFGHIJ | 1
________10________20________30______ | 1
__40________50________60________70__ | 2
______80 | 3
db<>fiddle here