Print Substring before and after slash '/' from a string - sql-server

Question

I've a task to print substring from a string based on the occurence of slash '/' position in a string .Below i'm trying to show you one sample example how i want to get .
Declare #My_string = 'abc/def gh /ijk l/m/no p/qr
From the above string i want to print the substring value based on the position of slash occourence.
For Example: Sometimes i was asked to print the substring after the 2nd occourence of slah then i've to display ijk l and Sometimes i was asked to print the substring after the 3rd occourence then m should display if it is 1st then def gh vice versa .There is no specific occourence position it may vary based on need .How can i achieve it .Any help will be very thankful
Note: I want to achieve without using function .i know that it can be done by using split function .Is that possible to get without using it

Answer 1

One way to do it without using a function is to use a recursive cte.
This is not the way I would recommend splitting a string but since you insist on not using a function it's a reasonable alternative.
If you change your mind about splitting string function, you should read Aaron Bertrand's Split strings the right way – or the next best way and choose a split string function that would be easy to modify to return the item number as well.
Sample data:
DECLARE #My_string varchar(100) = 'abc/def gh /ijk l/m/no p/qr',
#SlashIndex int = 3
The CTE:
;WITH CTE AS
(
SELECT LEFT(#My_String, CHARINDEX('/', #My_String)-1) As Value,
0 As SlashIndex,
RIGHT(#My_String, LEN(#My_String) - CHARINDEX('/', #My_String)) As String
WHERE CHARINDEX('/', #My_String) > 0
OR LEN (#My_String) > 0
UNION ALL
SELECT LEFT(String, CASE WHEN CHARINDEX('/', String) > 0 THEN CHARINDEX('/', String) ELSE LEN(String) +1 END -1),
SlashIndex + 1,
RIGHT(String, LEN(String) - CASE WHEN CHARINDEX('/', String) > 0 THEN CHARINDEX('/', String) ELSE LEN(String) END)
FROM CTE
WHERE CHARINDEX('/', String) > 0
OR LEN(String) > 0
)
The Query:
SELECT Value
FROM CTE
WHERE SlashIndex = #SlashIndex
Result: m
You can see a live demo on rextester.

Answer 2

A simple way to get the 3rd position via XML
Example
Declare #My_string varchar(max)= 'abc/def gh /ijk l/m/no p/qr'
Select Pos3 = convert(xml,'<x>'+replace(#My_String,'/','</x><x>')+'</x>').value('/x[3]','varchar(100)')
Returns
Pos3
ijk l

Answer 3

created below function which will take 2 input first - your position and second will be your string and return the required output -
create function dbo.GetSubsting ( #StatPoint int , #Input_string varchar(1000) )
returns varchar(1000)
as
begin
Declare #len int , #idx int =1 , #section int = 1 , #output varchar(1000) = ''
DECLARE #tab table ( idx int identity(1,1 ), Val char(1) , section int )
select #len = len(#Input_string)
while #idx <= #len
begin
insert into #tab
select substring( #Input_string , #idx ,1) , #section
if substring( #Input_string , #idx ,1) = '/'
set #section = #section + 1
set #idx = #idx + 1
end
select #output = #output + Val from #tab where section = #StatPoint
select #output = replace(#output , '/' , '')
RETURN #output
end
go
select dbo.GetSubsting(3, 'abc/def gh /ijk l/m/no p/qr')
--OUTPUT
-- ijk l