Confused about STRING_SPLIT
Humble novice 
This bit is fine (a fiddle is available [here](https://dbfiddle.uk/?rdbms=sqlserver_2019&fiddle=72a86755a4ae6771ebeeea14310f7db1)).


```
SELECT 
    value 
FROM 
    STRING_SPLIT('red,green,,blue', ',');
```

But I then did this

```
CREATE TABLE x (y VARCHAR (34));
```

and

```
INSERT INTO x VALUES ('sfsd, sadfs, sfds'), ('wwer, rtryr, 65555');
```

and I've been trying to apply  STRING_SPLIT to the field y - I've tried stuff like

```
SELECT STRING_SPLIT (y, ',') FROM x;
```

and I get this


```
Msg 195 Level 15 State 10 Line 1
'STRING_SPLIT' is not a recognized built-in function name.

```

I've tried various things and no luck - could somebody show me how to use this function?


The result I want it:

```
field_name
sfsd
sadfs
sfds
wwer
rtryr
65555
```

Is this what STRING_SPLIT is for? Have I completely misunderstood this?
Top Answer
Jack Douglas 
`STRING_SPLIT` [is a table-valued function](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/functions/string-split-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver15):

> A table-valued function that splits a string into rows of substrings, based on a specified separator character.

It need to appear in the `FROM` clause because the return type is a single-column table:

> Returns a single-column table whose rows are the substrings. The name of the column is value.

If you want to `STRING_SPLIT` on several strings, you probably need [`CROSS APPLY`](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/queries/from-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver15#using-apply):

> …the *right_table_source* can use a table-valued function that takes a column from the *left_table_source* as one of the arguments of the function.

<>https://dbfiddle.uk/?rdbms=sqlserver_2019&fiddle=c4c76d155de9e127cec5782b3dd56215&hide=3
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