oracle 8 extract strings from string

I have

"This is <>sample<> text. Need to extract <>smth1<> and <>smth2<> and many others." in a column of oracle database. I need to get:

sample smth1 smth2

Any help?

try to create this function:

create or replace
Function GetSurroundedText (origStr varchar2, openingStr varchar2, closingStr varchar2, outputSep varchar2)
Return Varchar2
Is
   continue boolean := true;
   l_string Varchar2(2000) := origStr;
   startPos PLS_Integer;
   endPos PLS_Integer;
   openingStrPos PLS_Integer;
   res Varchar2(2000) := '';
   sep Varchar2(100) := outputSep;
Begin
While true
Loop
   openingStrPos :=Instr(l_string, openingStr);
   If openingStrPos > 0 Then
      startPos := openingStrPos + Length(openingStr);
      l_String := Substr(l_string, startPos);
   else
      exit;
   end if;
   endPos := Instr(l_string, closingStr);
   if endPos > 0 Then
      if res = '' Then
         sep := '';
      else
         sep := outputSep;
      end If;
      res := res || sep || Substr(l_string, 1, endpos-1);
      l_String := Substr(l_string, endPos + Length(closingStr));
   else
      exit;
   end if;
End Loop;
return res;
End;

And, in your case, use it like this:

select GetSurroundedText(mycolumn, '<>', '<>', ' ') from mytable;