Spliting a column into multiple columns in SQL Server - sql

Question

I am working with a column called FullName which stores a lengthy value.
The format is something like
'Microsoft.SQL.Server.20XX.DBFile:ABC.edf.com;XXXX_XXX_XXX;master;1;1'
'SQLVersion.DBFile:Hostname;InstanceName;Dummy;Dummy;Dummy'
What I want is to split FullName into SQLVersion, Hostname and InstanceName.
I have searched a sort of threads about splitting values which separate by a dot or a colon, which is slightly different with my case.

Answer 1

You can use the following trick with cross apply. I think the code is self explanatory and doesn't need elaboration:
create table t(v varchar(200))
insert into t values
('Microsoft.SQL.Server.20XX.DBFile:ABC.edf.com;XXXX_XXX_XXX;master;1;1'),
('SQLVersion.DBFile:Hostname;InstanceName;Dummy;Dummy;Dummy')
select substring(v, 1, c1.i1 - 1) as SqlVersion,
substring(v, c1.i1 + 1, c2.i2 - c1.i1 - 1) as HostName,
substring(v, c2.i2 + 1, c3.i3 - c2.i2 - 1) as InstanceName
from t
cross apply(select charindex(':', t.v) as i1 ) c1
cross apply(select charindex(';', t.v, c1.i1 + 1) as i2) c2
cross apply(select charindex(';', t.v, c2.i2 + 1) as i3) c3
In case it is not clear. In first cross apply I am selecting index of symbol :. In second cross apply I am selecting index of symbol ; that is after the index of first cross apply. In third the index of symbol ; that is after the index of second cross apply. In main select I just use those indeces to grab the needed portions of string.
Fiddle here http://sqlfiddle.com/#!3/d79b45/16

Answer 2

I agree with the comment above that separate columns would be preferred, if possible. However, I believe this parsing logic is doing what you want:
declare
#test nvarchar(200)
, #versionStart int
, #versionLength int
, #hostStart int
, #hostLength int
, #instanceStart int
, #instanceLength int
SET #test = 'Microsoft.SQL.Server.20XX.DBFile:ABC.edf.com;XXXX_XXX_XXX;master;1;1'
SET #versionStart = PATINDEX('%Microsoft.SQL.Server.%', #test) + 21
SET #versionLength = CHARINDEX('.', #test, #versionStart) - #versionStart
SET #hostStart = PATINDEX('%.DBFile:%', #test) + 8
SET #hostLength = CHARINDEX(';', #test, #hostStart) - #hostStart
SET #instanceStart = CHARINDEX(';', #test, #hostStart + #hostLength) + 1
SET #instanceLength = CHARINDEX(';', #test, #instanceStart) - #instanceStart
select
SUBSTRING(#test, #versionStart, 4) AS Version
, SUBSTRING(#test, #hostStart, #hostLength) AS HostName
, SUBSTRING(#test, #instanceStart, #instanceLength) AS InstanceName