SQL Server Remove multiple character strings within one string - sql

Question

I have the following string of text in my database:
Value1 - Value2: Value3 - Value4: Value5 - Value6:
I need to remove the dash AND everything between the dash up until the colon
The above result would become:
Value1: Value3: Value5:
Basicly, there could be endless amounts of values, but there could only be just a series of one.
Thing to note: The values could be any string!
Is there an easy way to do this? Preferably without a UDF. Could anyone help me out with this? Thanks in advance!
Edit: I agree this is a very poor implementation. The rest of the database itself isnt like this at all. It's just one table. The query I get from this will be used in a view where all values are seperated into multiple aliases. Thanks for understanding

Answer 1

You can use a split function... though your values shouldn't be stored like this in the first place.
declare #table table (col1 varchar(256))
insert into #table
values
('Value1 - Value2: Value3 - Value4: Value5 - Value6:')
select
ReturnVal = replace(ltrim(left(Item,charindex('-',Item))),'-',':')
from
#table
cross apply dbo.DelimitedSplit8K(col1,':')
where
Item <> ''
RETURNS
+-----------+
| ReturnVal |
+-----------+
| Value1 : |
| Value3 : |
| Value5 : |
+-----------+
Or, an ugly hack to get it back how you want it
select distinct
--ReturnVal = replace(ltrim(left(Item,charindex('-',Item))),'-',':')
ReturnVal = 'V' + STUFF((
SELECT replace(left(Item,charindex('-',Item)),'-',':')
FROM
#table
cross apply dbo.DelimitedSplit8K(col1,':')
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)'), 1, 1, '')
from
#table
cross apply dbo.DelimitedSplit8K(col1,':')
where
Item <> ''
RETURNS
ReturnVal
Value1 : Value3 : Value5 :
JEFF MODEN SPLITTER
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[DelimitedSplit8K] (#pString VARCHAR(8000), #pDelimiter CHAR(1))
--WARNING!!! DO NOT USE MAX DATA-TYPES HERE! IT WILL KILL PERFORMANCE!
RETURNS TABLE WITH SCHEMABINDING AS
RETURN
/* "Inline" CTE Driven "Tally Table" produces values from 1 up to 10,000...
enough to cover VARCHAR(8000)*/
WITH E1(N) AS (
SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL
SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL
SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1
), --10E+1 or 10 rows
E2(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E1 a, E1 b), --10E+2 or 100 rows
E4(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E2 a, E2 b), --10E+4 or 10,000 rows max
cteTally(N) AS (--==== This provides the "base" CTE and limits the number of rows right up front
-- for both a performance gain and prevention of accidental "overruns"
SELECT TOP (ISNULL(DATALENGTH(#pString),0)) ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM E4
),
cteStart(N1) AS (--==== This returns N+1 (starting position of each "element" just once for each delimiter)
SELECT 1 UNION ALL
SELECT t.N+1 FROM cteTally t WHERE SUBSTRING(#pString,t.N,1) = #pDelimiter
),
cteLen(N1,L1) AS(--==== Return start and length (for use in substring)
SELECT s.N1,
ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(#pDelimiter,#pString,s.N1),0)-s.N1,8000)
FROM cteStart s
)
--===== Do the actual split. The ISNULL/NULLIF combo handles the length for the final element when no delimiter is found.
SELECT ItemNumber = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY l.N1),
Item = SUBSTRING(#pString, l.N1, l.L1)
FROM cteLen l
;
GO

Answer 2

SELECT substring(NameValue, 1, charindex('_', NameValue)-1) AS Names,
substring(NameValue, charindex('_', NameValue)+1, LEN(NameValue)) AS Values
FROM Table
EDIT: Something like this put in a function or stored procedure combined with a temp table should work for more than one line, depending on the line delimiter you should also remove CHAR(13) before you start:
DECLARE #helper varchar(512)
DECLARE #current varchar(512)
SET #helper = NAMEVALUE
WHILE CHARINDEX(CHAR(10), #helper) > 0 BEGIN
SET #current = SUBSTRING(#helper, 1, CHARINDEX(CHAR(10), NAMEVALUE)-1)
SELECT SUBSTRING(#current, 1, CHARINDEX('_', #current)-1) AS Names,
SUBSTRING(#current, CHARINDEX('_', #current)+1, LEN(#current)) AS Names
SET #helper = SUBSTRING(#helper, CHARINDEX(CHAR(10), #helper)+1, LEN(#helper))
END
SELECT SUBSTRING(#helper, 1, CHARINDEX('_', #helper)-1) AS Names,
SUBSTRING(#helper, CHARINDEX('_', #helper)+1, LEN(#helper)) AS Names