SQL Extract Values from a String - sql

Question

How do I extract values from a string? I'm trying to separate into 3 new columns. A separate column for city, state and zipcode.
I've tried
select address2,
left(address2, charindex('',address2)-1)
from table
and ---when I try the below code I get "Invalid length parameter passed to the left or substring function"
,LTRIM(substring(a.Address2, CHARINDEX(' ', a.Address2)+1, CHARINDEX(' ', substring(a.address2, charindex(' ',
a.address2)+1, len(a.address2)))-1))
I can break out the city (except for West Warwick) using the following code, but not sure how to make it work for state and zip. This also removes the error.
SUBSTRING(Address2,1,CHARINDEX(' ', a.address2+ ' ')-1) as city
Any ideas what to try?

Answer 1

It looks like your zip codes and your states are all the same length. If that is true, you should be able to use something like this:
SELECT
LEFT(a.Address2,LEN(a.Address2) - 13) AS City,
RIGHT(LEFT(a.Address2,LEN(a.Address2) - 11),2) AS State,
RIGHT(a.Address2,10) AS Zip_Code
FROM
table;
DEMO CODE
Create the table and data:
CREATE TABLE MyTable (Address2 VARCHAR(100));
INSERT INTO MyTable
VALUES
('SAN DIEGO CA 92128-1234'),
('WEST WARWICK RI 02893-1349'),
('RICHMOND IN 47374-9409');
The query:
SELECT
LEFT(Address2,LEN(Address2) - 13) AS City,
RIGHT(LEFT(Address2,LEN(Address2) - 11),2) AS State,
RIGHT(Address2,10) AS Zip_Code
FROM
MyTable;
The output:

Answer 2

Since you only have 3 parts (City/State/Zip) you can take advantage of a function called parsename in SQL Server 2008 and later. (The original intent of the function is to parse out object names.)
Using a combination of the replace and parsename functions will allow you to be able to separate the data into 3 parts, even if the length of the State (not likely) or the Zip (more likely) change.
Example Data:
create table #my_table
(
address2 varchar(75) not null
)
insert into #my_table values ('CONNERSVILLE IN 47331-3351')
insert into #my_table values ('WEST WARWICK RI 02893-1349')
insert into #my_table values ('RICHMOND IN 47374-9409')
insert into #my_table values ('WILLIAMSBURG IN 47393-9617')
insert into #my_table values ('FARMERSVILLE OH 45325-9226')
--this record is an example of a likely scenario for when the zip length would change.
insert into #my_table values ('WILLIAMSBURG IN 47393')
Solution:
with len_vals as
(
select t.address2
, len(parsename(replace(t.address2,' ','.'), 1)) as zip_len
, len(parsename(replace(t.address2,' ','.'), 2)) as st_len
from #my_table as t
group by t.address2
)
select left(a.address2, len(a.address2) - b.zip_len - b.st_len - 2) as city
, substring(a.address2, len(a.address2) - b.zip_len - 2, b.st_len) as st
, right(a.address2, b.zip_len) as zip_code
from #my_table as a
inner join len_vals as b on a.address2 = b.address2
Results: