In SQL Server, the STRING_SPLIT function can be used to split a string into multiple values based on a specified separator. This function was introduced in SQL Server 2016 and later versions.
The syntax of the STRING_SPLIT function is as follows:
STRING_SPLIT ( string , separator )
where string is the string to be split and separator is the delimiter that is used to split the string into multiple values.
Here’s an example of using the STRING_SPLIT function:
SELECT value
FROM STRING_SPLIT('apple,banana,orange', ',')
This query will split the string ‘apple,banana,orange’ into three separate values (‘apple’, ‘banana’, ‘orange’) based on the comma separator and return them as separate rows.
In addition to STRING_SPLIT, there are other string splitting functions available in SQL Server, such as PARSENAME, SUBSTRING, CHARINDEX, and PATINDEX. These functions can also be used to split strings based on a specific delimiter or pattern.
It’s important to note that while string splitting functions can be useful in certain scenarios, they can also be resource-intensive and impact the performance of your queries, especially when dealing with large datasets. Therefore, it’s recommended to use them judiciously and consider other alternatives, such as storing data in a normalized format or using a dedicated text processing tool.
