Split a VARCHAR in DB2 to retrieve a value inside

Question

I have a VARCHAR column that contains 5 informations (2 CHAR(3) and 3 TIMESTAMP) separated with \'$\'.

C         


        

Answer 1

CREATE FUNCTION split(pos INT, delimeter CHAR, string VARCHAR(255))
LANGUAGE SQL
RETURNS VARCHAR(255)
DETERMINISTIC NO EXTERNAL ACTION
BEGIN ATOMIC
    DECLARE x INT;
    DECLARE s INT;
    DECLARE e INT;

    SET x = 0;
    SET s = 0;
    SET e = 0;

    WHILE (x < pos) DO
        SET s = locate(delimeter, string, s + 1);
        IF s = 0 THEN
            RETURN NULL;
        END IF;
        SET x = x + 1;
    END WHILE;

    SET e = locate(delimeter, string, s + 1);
    IF s >= e THEN
        SET e = LENGTH(string) + 1;
    END IF;
    RETURN SUBSTR(string, s + 1, e - s -1);
END!

Usage:

SELECT split(3,'$',col) from mytable; -- or
SELECT split(0,'-', 'first-second-third') from sysibm.sysdummy1;
SELECT split(0,'-', 'returns this') from sysibm.sysdummy1;
SELECT split(1,'-', 'returns null') from sysibm.sysdummy1;