Split a VARCHAR in DB2 to retrieve a value inside

CREATE FUNCTION split(pos INT, delimeter CHAR, string VARCHAR(255))
LANGUAGE SQL
RETURNS VARCHAR(255)
DETERMINISTIC NO EXTERNAL ACTION
BEGIN ATOMIC
    DECLARE x INT;
    DECLARE s INT;
    DECLARE e INT;

    SET x = 0;
    SET s = 0;
    SET e = 0;

    WHILE (x < pos) DO
        SET s = locate(delimeter, string, s + 1);
        IF s = 0 THEN
            RETURN NULL;
        END IF;
        SET x = x + 1;
    END WHILE;

    SET e = locate(delimeter, string, s + 1);
    IF s >= e THEN
        SET e = LENGTH(string) + 1;
    END IF;
    RETURN SUBSTR(string, s + 1, e - s -1);
END!

Usage:

SELECT split(3,'$',col) from mytable; -- or
SELECT split(0,'-', 'first-second-third') from sysibm.sysdummy1;
SELECT split(0,'-', 'returns this') from sysibm.sysdummy1;
SELECT split(1,'-', 'returns null') from sysibm.sysdummy1;

I am sure there is a better way to write this, but here is 1 (SQL) solution for the simple case given. It could be rewritten as a stored procedure to look for any arbitrary string. There may also be some 3rd party tools/extensions to help out w/ the split you want...

select
locate('$', col, (locate('$',col, (locate('$',col) +1))) + 1) as poss3rdDollarSign, -- position of 3rd dollar sign
locate('$', col, (locate('$', col, (locate('$',col, (locate('$',col) +1))) + 1)) + 1) as poss4thDollarSign, -- position of 4th dollar sign
    (locate('$', col, (locate('$', col, (locate('$',col, (locate('$',col) +1))) + 1)) + 1)) - 
    (locate('$', col, (locate('$',col, (locate('$',col) +1))) + 1)) - 1  as stringLength,-- length of string between 3rd and 4th dollar sign
    substr(col, locate('$', col, (locate('$',col, (locate('$',col) +1))) + 1)  + 1, (locate('$', col, (locate('$', col, (locate('$',col, (locate('$',col) +1))) + 1)) + 1)) - 
    (locate('$', col, (locate('$',col, (locate('$',col) +1))) + 1)) - 1) as string
    from mytable