Splitting delimited values in a SQL column into multiple rows that uses multiple delimiters

Question

I'm looking for a little help in splitting apart a field that uses multiple delimiters in a sql function/ statement. I've followed a few examples already listed HERE

here that work very well with a single delimiter. However I need to split apart a field that is based on the following. its format would be qty x itemno description, qty x itemno description, etc. I therefore need to break apart the statement on the first ' x' the second space ' ' and the final comma.. I figure I can split this based on a regular expression statement but unsure about how to go about it..

could anyone help?

    OnSameLine = substring( ( SELECT ', ' + 
                 coalesce (CAST(CNT.qty AS varchar(1000)), '') +                  
                 ' x ' + '['+ coalesce (CNT.Itemno,'') + ']' + 
                 ' ' + coalesce (STK.Desc#1,'')

format I need..

PK qty itemno description
PK qty itemno description

etc..

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 17 '12 at 12:07

1

Try this:

Based on article from here

;with T(id, Cols) as
(
  select 1, '10 x 1234 description1,11 x 456 description2' 
  UNION ALL
  select 2, '40 x 123478 description3,51 x 45678 description4' 
),
--first split all comma separated into different rows
CTE2 AS 
(
    SELECT id, 
    CAST(N'<H><r>' + replace(Replace(Vals.a.value('.', 'NVARCHAR(50)'),
        ' ','|'), '|', '</r><r>') + '</r></H>' as XML) Cols
    FROM
    (
    SELECT *,CAST (N'<H><r>' + Replace(cols,',','</r><r>') + 
        '</r></H>' AS XML) AS [vals]
    FROM T) d
    CROSS APPLY d.[vals].nodes('/H/r') Vals(a)
)
-- split all ' ' demilited values now
SELECT distinct id, Vals.a.value('(/H/r)[1]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS Qty,
Vals.a.value('(/H/r)[2]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS X,
Vals.a.value('(/H/r)[3]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS ItemNo,
Vals.a.value('(/H/r)[4]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS Description
FROM
(
SELECT *
FROM CTE2) d
CROSS APPLY d.[cols].nodes('/H/r') Vals(a)

answered Dec 17 '12 at 12:07

rs.

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+1 for splitting by space into different columns. I am not sure if it is the the requirement. I have exchanged `Qty` and `X` after first split. Checkout mine. – Kaf Dec 17 '12 at 12:33
thanks I just tried this and forgot I have some old historical data in the field that does not obey the instructed format.. apologies so I hit an XML parsing: line 1, character 54, illegal name character. is there a way to return the original field if the format is not correct. else this looks just what I need – user552769 Dec 17 '12 at 14:49
I isolated a valid dataset and it's working bar the qty column which is blank and hence all columns move right by one. I figure it's this line causing the error.. Vals.a.value('(/H/r)[1]', 'VARCHAR(100)') AS Qty, – user552769 Dec 17 '12 at 15:07

Kaf · Answer 2 · 2012-12-17T12:46:27.033

If you just want to split by , and exchange Qty and PK, try this;

DECLARE @S VARCHAR(max)= 'Q1 PK1 ITM1 D1,Q2 PK2 ITM2 D2'

DECLARE @X XML
SELECT @X  = '<myxml><n><d>' + 
             REPLACE (@S,',','</d></n><n><d>') + '</d></n></myxml>'


SELECT SUBSTRING(x,firstSpace,secondSpace-firstSpace) + ' ' + 
       SUBSTRING(x,1,firstSpace) + ' ' + 
       SUBSTRING(x,secondSpace,len(x))
FROM ( --Getting CharIndex of first and second spaces
    SELECT x, CHARINDEX(' ',x,1) firstSpace, CHARINDEX(' ',x,CHARINDEX(' ',x,1)+1) secondSpace
    FROM ( --Spliting by "," into records 
        SELECT C.value('d[1]','VARCHAR(50)') x
        FROM @X.nodes('/myxml/n') Cols (C) ) T1
) T2

SQL Fiddle here

--Data
'Q1 PK1 ITM1 D1,Q2 PK2 ITM2 D2'

--Results
'PK1 Q1 ITM1 D1'
'PK2 Q2 ITM2 D2'

If you want to split them into columns then try this;

DECLARE @S VARCHAR(500)= 'Q1 PK1 ITM1 D1,Q2 PK2 ITM2 D2'
DECLARE @X XML

SELECT @X  = '<myxml><n><d>' + 
REPLACE(REPLACE (@S,',','</d></n><n><d>'), ' ', '</d><d>') + 
'</d></n></myxml>'


SELECT  C.value('d[2]','VARCHAR(50)') PK,
        C.value('d[1]','VARCHAR(50)') Qty,
        C.value('d[3]','VARCHAR(50)') Item,
        C.value('d[4]','VARCHAR(50)') Description
        FROM @X.nodes('/myxml/n') Cols (C)

SQL Fiddle here

--Data 
'Q1 PK1 ITM1 D1,Q2 PK2 ITM2 D2'

--Results
PK1 | Q1 | ITM1 | D1
PK2 | Q2 | ITM2 | D2

Splitting delimited values in a SQL column into multiple rows that uses multiple delimiters

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