Does PL/SQL have an equivalent StringTokenizer to Java's?

Question

I use java.util.StringTokenizer for simple parsing of delimited strings in java. I have a need for the same type of mechanism in pl/sql. I could write it, but if it already exists, I would prefer to use that. Anyone know of a pl/sql implementation? Some useful alternative?

Answer 1

PL/SQL does include a basic one for comma separated lists (DBMS_UTILITY.COMMA_TO_TABLE).

Example:

DECLARE
   lv_tab_length   BINARY_INTEGER;
   lt_array   DBMS_UTILITY.lname_array;
BEGIN
   DBMS_UTILITY.COMMA_TO_TABLE( list => 'one,two,three,four'
                              , tablen => lv_tab_length
                              , tab => lt_array
                              );

   DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE( 'lv_tab_length = ['||lv_tab_length||']' );

   FOR i IN 1..lv_tab_length
   LOOP
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE( '['||lt_array( i )||']' );
   END LOOP;

END;
/

Or see this Ask Tom link for other ideas...

Ak Tom - "varying elements in IN list"

Answer 2

if you have APEX installed, the function APEX_UTIL.string_to_table does just that.