几乎所有其他答案都是替换正在分割的字符串，这浪费了CPU周期并执行不必要的内存分配。

我在这里介绍了一种更好的进行字符串拆分的方法:http://www.digitalruby.com/split-string-sql-server/

代码如下:

SET NOCOUNT ON

-- You will want to change nvarchar(MAX) to nvarchar(50), varchar(50) or whatever matches exactly with the string column you will be searching against
DECLARE @SplitStringTable TABLE (Value nvarchar(MAX) NOT NULL)
DECLARE @StringToSplit nvarchar(MAX) = 'your|string|to|split|here'
DECLARE @SplitEndPos int
DECLARE @SplitValue nvarchar(MAX)
DECLARE @SplitDelim nvarchar(1) = '|'
DECLARE @SplitStartPos int = 1

SET @SplitEndPos = CHARINDEX(@SplitDelim, @StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos)

WHILE @SplitEndPos > 0
BEGIN
    SET @SplitValue = SUBSTRING(@StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos, (@SplitEndPos - @SplitStartPos))
    INSERT @SplitStringTable (Value) VALUES (@SplitValue)
    SET @SplitStartPos = @SplitEndPos + 1
    SET @SplitEndPos = CHARINDEX(@SplitDelim, @StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos)
END

SET @SplitValue = SUBSTRING(@StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos, 2147483647)
INSERT @SplitStringTable (Value) VALUES(@SplitValue)

SET NOCOUNT OFF

-- You can select or join with the values in @SplitStringTable at this point.

下面是一个SQL UDF，它可以分割字符串并只抓取特定的部分。

create FUNCTION [dbo].[udf_SplitParseOut]
(
    @List nvarchar(MAX),
    @SplitOn nvarchar(5),
    @GetIndex smallint
)  
returns varchar(1000)
AS  

BEGIN

DECLARE @RtnValue table 
(

    Id int identity(0,1),
    Value nvarchar(MAX)
) 


    DECLARE @result varchar(1000)

    While (Charindex(@SplitOn,@List)>0)
    Begin
        Insert Into @RtnValue (value)
        Select Value = ltrim(rtrim(Substring(@List,1,Charindex(@SplitOn,@List)-1)))
        Set @List = Substring(@List,Charindex(@SplitOn,@List)+len(@SplitOn),len(@List))
    End

    Insert Into @RtnValue (Value)
    Select Value = ltrim(rtrim(@List))

    select @result = value from @RtnValue where ID = @GetIndex

    Return @result
END

使用STRING_SPLIT的现代方法需要SQL Server 2016及以上版本。

DECLARE @string varchar(100) = 'Hello John Smith'

SELECT
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY value) AS RowNr,
    value
FROM string_split(@string, ' ')

结果:

RowNr   value
1       Hello
2       John
3       Smith

现在可以从行号中得到第n个元素。

几乎所有其他答案都是替换正在分割的字符串，这浪费了CPU周期并执行不必要的内存分配。

我在这里介绍了一种更好的进行字符串拆分的方法:http://www.digitalruby.com/split-string-sql-server/

代码如下:

SET NOCOUNT ON

-- You will want to change nvarchar(MAX) to nvarchar(50), varchar(50) or whatever matches exactly with the string column you will be searching against
DECLARE @SplitStringTable TABLE (Value nvarchar(MAX) NOT NULL)
DECLARE @StringToSplit nvarchar(MAX) = 'your|string|to|split|here'
DECLARE @SplitEndPos int
DECLARE @SplitValue nvarchar(MAX)
DECLARE @SplitDelim nvarchar(1) = '|'
DECLARE @SplitStartPos int = 1

SET @SplitEndPos = CHARINDEX(@SplitDelim, @StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos)

WHILE @SplitEndPos > 0
BEGIN
    SET @SplitValue = SUBSTRING(@StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos, (@SplitEndPos - @SplitStartPos))
    INSERT @SplitStringTable (Value) VALUES (@SplitValue)
    SET @SplitStartPos = @SplitEndPos + 1
    SET @SplitEndPos = CHARINDEX(@SplitDelim, @StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos)
END

SET @SplitValue = SUBSTRING(@StringToSplit, @SplitStartPos, 2147483647)
INSERT @SplitStringTable (Value) VALUES(@SplitValue)

SET NOCOUNT OFF

-- You can select or join with the values in @SplitStringTable at this point.

下面的示例使用递归CTE

更新18.09.2013

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.SplitStrings_CTE(@List nvarchar(max), @Delimiter nvarchar(1))
RETURNS @returns TABLE (val nvarchar(max), [level] int, PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED([level]))
AS
BEGIN
;WITH cte AS
 (
  SELECT SUBSTRING(@List, 0, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter,  @List + @Delimiter)) AS val,
         CAST(STUFF(@List + @Delimiter, 1, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @List + @Delimiter), '') AS nvarchar(max)) AS stval, 
         1 AS [level]
  UNION ALL
  SELECT SUBSTRING(stval, 0, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, stval)),
         CAST(STUFF(stval, 1, CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, stval), '') AS nvarchar(max)),
         [level] + 1
  FROM cte
  WHERE stval != ''
  )
  INSERT @returns
  SELECT REPLACE(val, ' ','' ) AS val, [level]
  FROM cte
  WHERE val > ''
  RETURN
END

演示SQLFiddle

下面是一个函数，它将完成问题的目标，即分割字符串并访问项目X:

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString]
(
   @List       VARCHAR(MAX),
   @Delimiter  VARCHAR(255),
   @ElementNumber INT
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN

       DECLARE @inp VARCHAR(MAX)
       SET @inp = (SELECT REPLACE(@List,@Delimiter,'_DELMTR_') FOR XML PATH(''))

       DECLARE @xml XML
       SET @xml = '<split><el>' + REPLACE(@inp,'_DELMTR_','</el><el>') + '</el></split>'

       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

用法:

SELECT dbo.SplitString('Hello John Smith', ' ', 2)

结果:

John