How to parse comma delimited string in PL/SQL?

Question

I have a comma delimited string in a PL/SQL script (e.g. data:= 'a,b,c,d,e'), that I need to parse out within the script.

I would like to loop through the string and process each item. Like a 'foreach' loop.

Is this possible in PL/SQL? Can someone point me to some code?

Answer 1

If you are on Oracle 10G or 11G then you should have a built-in Apex function apex_util.string_to_table:

SQL> declare
  2    v_array apex_application_global.vc_arr2;
  3    v_string varchar2(2000);
  4  begin
  5  
  6    -- Convert delimited string to array
  7    v_array := apex_util.string_to_table('alpha,beta,gamma,delta', ',');
  8    for i in 1..v_array.count
  9    loop
 10      dbms_output.put_line(v_array(i));
 11    end loop;
 12  
 13    -- Convert array to delimited string
 14    v_string := apex_util.table_to_string(v_array,'|');
 15    dbms_output.put_line(v_string);
 16  end;
 17  /
alpha
beta
gamma
delta
alpha|beta|gamma|delta

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.