Alternative to splitting text

Question

Alternative to splitting text

John215

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Points: 871
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January 13, 2016 at 8:50 pm

#303756

Hello,
I am in need of some assistance. I have a column that have values that look like this:
111#222#33333#44#555#66
The length of the values can change. I am going to insert each set of values separated by # into columns.
For example: 111 into COL1, 222 into COl2, 33333 into COL3.
I have already wrote the code to do this, but it is a bit tedious and confusing. I am using SUBSTRING/CHARINDEX method. Is there another method to do this?

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sqlquaker Say Hey Kid Points: 697 More actions · Answer 1

You may want to check this article by Aaron Bertrand. He explains various methods to split values in a string separated by delimiter such as #.

http://sqlperformance.com/2012/07/t-sql-queries/split-strings

Also check out this article by Ole Michelsen >> https://ole.michelsen.dk/blog/split-string-to-table-using-transact-sql.html

Thanks

Eirikur Eiriksson SSC Guru Points: 182915 More actions · Answer 2

imba (1/13/2016)
Hello,
I am in need of some assistance. I have a column that have values that look like this:
111#222#33333#44#555#66
The length of the values can change. I am going to insert each set of values separated by # into columns.
For example: 111 into COL1, 222 into COl2, 33333 into COL3.
I have already wrote the code to do this, but it is a bit tedious and confusing. I am using SUBSTRING/CHARINDEX method. Is there another method to do this?

Quick suggestion, use the DelimitedSplit8K[/url] function

😎

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004403 More actions · Answer 3

sqlquaker (1/13/2016)
You may want to check this article by Aaron Bertrand. He explains various methods to split values in a string separated by delimiter such as #.
http://sqlperformance.com/2012/07/t-sql-queries/split-strings
Also check out this article by Ole Michelsen >> https://ole.michelsen.dk/blog/split-string-to-table-using-transact-sql.html
Thanks

The problem with that article is that the test data Aaron used will lead you down the primrose path as to which T-SQL method is the fastest (I've almost finished an article on this type of serious mistake). If you can't use a properly written SQLCLR (and very few are actually written correctly) for the split, then I strongly recommend that you use either DelimitedSplit8K (for up to VARCHAR(8000)) or DelimitedSplitN4K (for up to NVARCHAR(4000)).

You can get both functions from the following article.

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/

I've not checked Ole's function for performance but, if you decide to, don't make the same mistake with the test data that Aaron made.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Eirikur Eiriksson SSC Guru Points: 182915 More actions · Answer 4

sqlquaker (1/13/2016)
You may want to check this article by Aaron Bertrand. He explains various methods to split values in a string separated by delimiter such as #.
http://sqlperformance.com/2012/07/t-sql-queries/split-strings
Also check out this article by Ole Michelsen >> https://ole.michelsen.dk/blog/split-string-to-table-using-transact-sql.html
Thanks

Caution here, Ole Michelsen's splitter is a recursive cte type splitter and unfortunately it's neither the fastest nor the most reliable/robust as it will fail on some extended characters, example below.

😎

/*

Simple splitter test harness which splits all sys.messages.text on space

*/

DECLARE @timer TABLE (T_TEXT VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,T_TS DATETIME2(7) NOT NULL DEFAULT (SYSDATETIME()));

DECLARE @NVARCHAR_BUCKET NVARCHAR(4000) = N'';

INSERT INTO @timer(T_TEXT) VALUES ('DRY RUN');

SELECT

@NVARCHAR_BUCKET = SM.text

FROM sys.messages SM;

INSERT INTO @timer(T_TEXT) VALUES ('DRY RUN');

BEGIN TRY

INSERT INTO @timer(T_TEXT) VALUES ('OMSplit');

SELECT

@NVARCHAR_BUCKET = X.Data

FROM sys.messages SM

CROSS APPLY dbo.OMSplit(SM.text,NCHAR(32)) AS X;

INSERT INTO @timer(T_TEXT) VALUES ('OMSplit');

END TRY

BEGIN CATCH

INSERT INTO @timer(T_TEXT) VALUES ('OMSplit FAILED!');

END CATCH

INSERT INTO @timer(T_TEXT) VALUES ('DelimitedSplitN4K');

SELECT

@NVARCHAR_BUCKET = X.Item

FROM sys.messages SM

CROSS APPLY dbo.DelimitedSplitN4K(SM.text,NCHAR(32)) AS X;

INSERT INTO @timer(T_TEXT) VALUES ('DelimitedSplitN4K');

SELECT

T.T_TEXT

,DATEDIFF(MICROSECOND,MIN(T.T_TS),MAX(T.T_TS)) AS DURATION

FROM @timer T

GROUP BY T.T_TEXT

ORDER BY DURATION;

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183706 More actions · Answer 5

Once you get the splitter, you just need to pivot the data.

CREATE TABLE #SplitTest( String varchar( 8000));

INSERT INTO #SplitTest VALUES( '111#222#33333#44#555#66');

SELECT MAX( CASE WHEN ItemNumber = 1 THEN Item END) AS Col1

,MAX( CASE WHEN ItemNumber = 2 THEN Item END) AS Col2

,MAX( CASE WHEN ItemNumber = 3 THEN Item END) AS Col3

,MAX( CASE WHEN ItemNumber = 4 THEN Item END) AS Col4

,MAX( CASE WHEN ItemNumber = 5 THEN Item END) AS Col5

,MAX( CASE WHEN ItemNumber = 6 THEN Item END) AS Col6

FROM #SplitTest

CROSS APPLY TEST.dbo.DelimitedSplit8k( String, '#') s;

GO

DROP TABLE #SplitTest;

Luis C.
General Disclaimer:
Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2