Splitting an SQL string into multiple strings - sql

Question

I am trying to split a single string containing multiple email address data into three variables. The strings mark the start/end of an email address with the ; character.
An example string would be:
'joebloggs#gmailcom;jimbowen#aol.com;dannybaker#msn.com'
The code I currently have for this is as follows:
DECLARE #Email VARCHAR(100),
#Email2 VARCHAR(100),
#Email3 VARCHAR(100)
SET #Email = 'joebloggs#gmailcom;jimbowen#aol.com;dannybaker#msn.com'
SET #Email2 = SUBSTRING(#Email, CHARINDEX(';', #Email)+1, LEN(#Email))
SET #Email3 = SUBSTRING(#Email, CHARINDEX(';', #Email)+1, LEN(#Email))
SET #Email = SUBSTRING(#Email, 1, CHARINDEX(';', #Email)-1)
Unfortunately this doesn't seem to work. Could someone please point out where I am going wrong and what I should do to fix my problem?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Assuming that there will always be 3 email addresses - the following seems to work;
DECLARE #Email VARCHAR(100),
#Email2 VARCHAR(100),
#Email3 VARCHAR(100)
SET #Email = 'joebloggs#gmailcom;jimbowen#aol.com;dannybaker#msn.com'
SELECT #Email = LEFT(#Email, CHARINDEX(';', #Email) - 1)
,#Email2 = SUBSTRING (
#Email,
CHARINDEX(';', #Email) + 1,
CHARINDEX(';', #Email, CHARINDEX(';', #Email) + 1) - LEN(LEFT(#Email, CHARINDEX(';', #Email) )) - 1
)
,#Email3 = RIGHT(#Email, CHARINDEX(';', #Email)-1)

Answer 2

This solution:
create function dbo.SplitString
(
#str nvarchar(max),
#separator char(1)
)
returns table
AS
return (
with tokens(p, a, b) AS (
select
cast(1 as bigint),
cast(1 as bigint),
charindex(#separator, #str)
union all
select
p + 1,
b + 1,
charindex(#separator, #str, b + 1)
from tokens
where b > 0
)
select
p-1 ItemIndex,
substring(
#str,
a,
case when b > 0 then b-a ELSE LEN(#str) end)
AS Item
from tokens
);
GO
Taken from How do I split a string so I can access item x

Answer 3

In SQL Server 2016 you can use the built-in STRING_SPLIT function.
SELECT value FROM STRING_SPLIT(#var, ';')

Answer 4

Try using XML nodes to split and parse your string. Code sample below:
declare #Email as varchar(100), #del as varchar(10), #xml as xml;
set #Email='joebloggs#gmailcom;jimbowen#aol.com;dannybaker#msn.com';
set #del =';';
set #xml = '<root><c>' + replace(#Email,#del,'</c><c>') + '</c></root>';
select email.value('.','varchar(100)') as Email
from #xml.nodes('//root/c') as records(email);

Answer 5

Here this works I came across it quite sometime ago. Cannot take any credit for the work but this will work perfectly.
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnSplitString]
(
#string NVARCHAR(MAX),
#delimiter CHAR(1)
)
RETURNS #output TABLE(splitdata NVARCHAR(MAX)
)
BEGIN
DECLARE #start INT, #end INT
SELECT #start = 1, #end = CHARINDEX(#delimiter, #string)
WHILE #start < LEN(#string) + 1 BEGIN
IF #end = 0
SET #end = LEN(#string) + 1
INSERT INTO #output (splitdata)
VALUES(SUBSTRING(#string, #start, #end - #start))
SET #start = #end + 1
SET #end = CHARINDEX(#delimiter, #string, #start)
END
RETURN
END
select *from dbo.fnSplitString('joebloggs#gmailcom;jimbowen#aol.com;dannybaker#msn.com',';')

Answer 6

I wrote this function that I use on a regular basis...
CREATE FUNCTION func_split(#value VARCHAR(8000), #delim CHAR)
RETURNS
#outtable TABLE (
i INTEGER,
value VARCHAR(1024)
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #pos INTEGER
DECLARE #count INTEGER
IF LEN(#value) > 0
BEGIN
SET #count = 1
SET #value = #value + #delim
SET #pos = CHARINDEX(#delim, #value, 1)
WHILE #pos > 0
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #outtable (i, value) VALUES (#count, LEFT(#value, #pos - 1))
SET #value = RIGHT(#value, LEN(#value) - #pos)
SET #pos = CHARINDEX(#delim, #value, 1)
SET #count = #count + 1
END
END
RETURN
END
You when then call it with...
DECLARE #emails AS TABLE (
i INTEGER,
value VARCHAR(1024)
)
INSERT INTO #split SEELCT * FROM func_split('joebloggs#gmailcom;jimbowen#aol.com;dannybaker#msn.com', ';');
...and you end up with a temp table full of email addresses, i being their input order.

Answer 7

Your best bet is to turn the delimited string into columnar form and work from there.
You can use the iterative method, or the method using the Numbers table (which I prefer):
declare
#list varchar(1000),
#sep char(1)
set #list = 'joebloggs#gmailcom;jimbowen#aol.com;dannybaker#msn.com';
set #sep = ';'
-- iterative method
declare #res table (
c varchar(100)
)
declare
#pos_start int,
#pos_end int,
#len_sep int,
#exit int
select #pos_start = 1, #pos_end = 1, #len_sep = len(#sep), #exit = 0
while #exit = 0
begin
set #pos_end = charindex(#sep, #list, #pos_start)
if #pos_end <= 0 begin
set #pos_end = len(#list) + 1
set #exit = 1
end
insert #res(c) select substring(#list, #pos_start, #pos_end - #pos_start)
set #pos_start = #pos_end + #len_sep
end
select * from #res
-- the Numbers table method
select substring(#list, n, charindex(#sep, #list + #sep, n) - n)
from numbers
where substring(#sep + #list, n, 1) = #sep
and n < len(#list) + 1