custom split function not working in pl/sql - oracle

Question

I have written a custom function in pl/sql which splits a clob variable into set of strings on the basis of the separator provided but it is not working as intended please help me out in figuring the problem with the code.
create or replace
FUNCTION SPLITCLOB (p_in_string clob, p_delim VARCHAR2) RETURN t_array
IS
i number :=0;
pos number :=0;
lv_str clob := p_in_string;
Strings t_array:=t_array ();
Begin
-- determine first chuck of string
pos := DBMS_LOB.INSTR(lv_str,p_delim,1,1);
If ( pos = 0) Then
i := i + 1;
strings.Extend();
strings(i) := DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR(lv_str,1);
RETURN strings;
End If;
-- while there are chunks left, loop
WHILE ( pos != 0) LOOP
-- increment counter
i := i + 1;
-- create array element for chuck of string
strings.EXTEND();
strings(i) := DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR(lv_str,1,pos-1);
-- remove chunk from string
lv_str := DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR(lv_str,pos+1,dbms_lob.getLength(lv_str));
-- determine next chunk
pos := DBMS_LOB.INSTR(lv_str,p_delim,1,1);
-- no last chunk, add to array
IF pos = 0 THEN
strings.extend();
strings(i+1) := lv_str;
END IF;
End Loop;
-- return array
RETURN strings;
End Splitclob;
here t_array() is custom type defiition of which is provided below
create or replace
TYPE "T_ARRAY"
AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(500);
thanks in advance

Answer 1

I've changed a piece of code I wrote not a long time ago and it seems it works as you want. Note: it will also work if there is only a single item in the input parameter (I mean, the situation when there is no separator in the input is covered).
CREATE OR REPLACE
TYPE T_ARRAY
AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(500);
/
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION splitclob (p_clob_in CLOB, p_delim VARCHAR2) RETURN t_array
AS
v_buffer VARCHAR2(500);
v_len NUMBER;
v_offset NUMBER := 1;
v_delim_pos NUMBER;
v_amount NUMBER;
v_result_array t_array := t_array();
BEGIN
IF p_clob_in IS NOT NULL THEN
v_len := dbms_lob.getlength(p_clob_in);
WHILE v_offset < v_len
LOOP
v_delim_pos := instr(p_clob_in, p_delim, v_offset);
IF v_delim_pos = 0 THEN
v_amount := v_len - v_offset + 1;
ELSE
v_amount := v_delim_pos - v_offset;
END IF;
dbms_lob.read(p_clob_in, v_amount, v_offset, v_buffer);
v_offset := v_offset + v_amount + 1;
v_result_array.EXTEND;
v_result_array(v_result_array.LAST) := v_buffer;
END LOOP;
END IF;
RETURN v_result_array;
END;
/
DECLARE
v_array t_array;
BEGIN
v_array := splitclob('order_id=383325; order_line_item=59; order_class_id=5749; subscription_code=5U12PFNCAU; start_date=01/12/2012; end_date=30/11/2013; date_override=null; license_available=-1; license_consumed=1; license_override=-1; order_class_status=0', ';');
FOR v_i IN v_array.first..v_array.last
LOOP
dbms_output.put_line(v_i || ' ' || v_array(v_i));
END LOOP;
END;
/
Output:
1 order_id=383325
2 order_line_item=59
3 order_class_id=5749
4 subscription_code=5U12PFNCAU
5 start_date=01/12/2012
6 end_date=30/11/2013
7 date_override=null
8 license_available=-1
9 license_consumed=1
10 license_override=-1
11 order_class_status=0
You have to take into account a situation when one of the tokens will be longer than 500 characters. Remember that VARCHAR2 datatype in SQL context has a 4000 bytes limitation. If you know there won't be tokens longer than that, then you don't have to change anything.