MySQL Split User-defined function

split_str.sql

-- SPLIT_STR MySQL Function
-- from http://blog.fedecarg.com/2009/02/22/mysql-split-string-function/

CREATE FUNCTION SPLIT_STR(
  x VARCHAR(255),
  delim VARCHAR(12),
  pos INT
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(255)
-- use CHAR_LENGTH instead of LENGTH to support utf8
RETURN REPLACE(SUBSTRING(SUBSTRING_INDEX(x, delim, pos),
    CHAR_LENGTH(SUBSTRING_INDEX(x, delim, pos -1)) + 1),
    delim, '');

/*
Example:

SELECT SPLIT_STR('a|bb|ccc|dd', '|', 3) as third;

+-------+
| third |
+-------+
| ccc   |
+-------+
*/