impala split udf

[#1]

I am on CDH 5.2 using Impala 2.0

Does anybody know when the UDTF split function be available?  

I have an array that is delimited by Pipe that has a max of 6 entries; min of 4

split[0], split[3] would have worked perfectly

Ideas are welcome on how to work around my challenge 

example 

aaaaaaaa|bbb|ccc|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff

a is variable length but always there

b may not be present

c may not be present

d, e and f is always there fixed length

I am think a really convoluted usage of substr

[#2 · Accepted solution]

> select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|bbb|ccc|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 1);
Query: select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|bbb|ccc|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 1)
aaaaaaaa
Fetched 1 row(s) in 0.01s
 
> select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|bbb|ccc|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 3);
Query: select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|bbb|ccc|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 3)
ccc
Fetched 1 row(s) in 0.01s
 
> select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|bbb|ccc|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 6);
Query: select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|bbb|ccc|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 6)
ffffff
Fetched 1 row(s) in 0.01s
 
> select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 1);
Query: select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 1)
aaaaaaaa
Fetched 1 row(s) in 0.01s
 
> select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 3);
Query: select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 3)
eeeeeeee
Fetched 1 row(s) in 0.01s
 
> select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 6);
Query: select regexp_extract('aaaaaaaa|ddddddddddd|eeeeeeee|ffffff', '([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|([a-z]+)\\|?([a-z]*)\\|?([a-z]*)', 6)
""

[#3]

somewhat better than me leveraging nested substr and reverses

but still wouldn't mind seeing the split function be brought in