Using T-SQL, return nth delimited element from a string

Question

I have a need to create a function the will return nth element of a delimited string.

For a data migration project, I am converting JSON audit records stored in a S

Answer 1

In a rare moment of lunacy I just thought that split is far easier if we use XML to parse it out for us:

(Using the variables from @Gary Kindel's answer)

declare @xml xml
set @xml = '' + replace(@list,@Delimiter,'') + ''

select
    el = split.el.value('.','varchar(max)')
from  @xml.nodes('/split/el') split(el))

This lists all elements of the string, split by the specified character.

We can use an xpath test to filter out empty values, and a further xpath test to restrict this to the element we're interested in. In full Gary's function becomes:

alter FUNCTION dbo.GetSplitString_CTE
(
   @List       VARCHAR(MAX),
   @Delimiter  VARCHAR(255),
   @ElementNumber int
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(max)
AS
BEGIN
       -- escape any XML https://dba.stackexchange.com/a/143140/65992  
       set @list = convert(VARCHAR(MAX),(select @list for xml path(''), type));

       declare @xml xml
       set @xml = '' + replace(@list,@Delimiter,'') + ''

       declare @ret varchar(max)
       set @ret = (select
              el = split.el.value('.','varchar(max)')
       from  @xml.nodes('/split/el[string-length(.)>0][position() = sql:variable("@elementnumber")]') split(el))

       return @ret

END