MySQL Second (or third) Index Of in String

Question

What would be the simplest way to locate the index of the third space in a string.

My goal is to get CCC out of this space separated list: AAAA BB

Answer 1

You would want to use SUBSTRING_INDEX function like this

SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(field, ' ', 3), ' ', -1)
FROM table

The inner function call would get you to AAAA BBBB CCCC while the outer function call would pare that down to just CCCC.