Name

Type

Optional

Meaning

MainString

String

No

The string to be parsed.

If StringExpression is empty or contains no delimiter character(s), the string is considered to contain exactly one field. In this case, PARSECOUNT returns 1.

StringDelimiter

String

No

Contains delimiter character(s).  A delimiter is a character, list of characters, or string, that is used to mark the end of a field in StringExpression.

If the ANY is used, StringDelimiter contains a set of characters, any of which may act as a delimiter character. If the ANY keyword is omitted, the entire StringDelimiter string acts as a single delimiter. Delimiters are case-sensitive.

If StringDelimiter is an empty string, special rules apply.  The delimiter is assumed to be a comma.  Fields may optionally be enclosed in quotes.  Such quotes are considered as special field delimiters and are not returned as part of the result string.  Any characters that appear between a quote mark and the next comma delimiter character are discarded.  If no leading quote is found, any leading or trailing spaces are trimmed before the result string is returned.

Index

Numeric

No

The delimited field number to return.  The first field is 1.

The maximum number of fields contained in MainString can be determined with the PARSECOUNT function.

If Index is negative, parsing takes place from right to left.