SQL & PL/SQL

I have a string like:

,open,close,open

I want to parse the data into an array (without the first ','). I found and tweaked the following code, but the result was:

+<blank line> (think this is coming from the first ',')+
off
on
off

---------------------------------------
FUNCTION SPLIT (p_in_string VARCHAR2, p_delim VARCHAR2) RETURN t_array

IS

i number :=0;

pos number :=0;

lv_str varchar2(50) := p_in_string;


strings t_array;


BEGIN


-- determine first chuck of string

pos := instr(lv_str,p_delim,1,1);


-- while there are chunks left, loop

WHILE ( pos != 0) LOOP


-- increment counter

i := i + 1;


-- create array element for chuck of string

strings(i) := substr(lv_str,1,pos-1);


-- remove chunk from string

lv_str := substr(lv_str,pos+1,length(lv_str));


-- determine next chunk

pos := instr(lv_str,p_delim,1,1);


-- no last chunk, add to array

IF pos = 0 THEN


strings(i+1) := lv_str;


END IF;


END LOOP;


-- return array

RETURN strings;


END SPLIT;

I am working on a 9i database.