Extract email address from string using tsql - sql

Question

I'm trying to extract email addresses from an existing comments field and put it into its own column. The string may be something like this "this is an example comment with an email address of someemail#domain.org" or just literally the email itself "someemail#domain.org".
I figure the best thing to do would be to find the index of the '#' symbol and search in both directions until either the end of the string was hit or there was a space. Can anyone help me out with this implementation?

Answer 1

I know wewesthemenace already answered the question, but his/her solution seems over complicated. Why concatenate the left and right sides of the email address together? I'd rather just find the beginning and the end of the email address and then use substring to return the email address like so:
My Table
DECLARE #Table TABLE (comment NVARCHAR(50));
INSERT INTO #Table
VALUES ('blah MyEmailAddress#domain.org'), --At the end
('blah MyEmailAddress#domain.org blah blah'), --In the middle
('MyEmailAddress#domain.org blah'), --At the beginning
('no email');
Actual Query:
SELECT comment,
CASE
WHEN CHARINDEX('#',comment) = 0 THEN NULL
ELSE SUBSTRING(comment,beginningOfEmail,endOfEmail-beginningOfEmail)
END email
FROM #Table
CROSS APPLY (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ',comment + ' ',CHARINDEX('#',comment))) AS A(endOfEmail)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT DATALENGTH(comment)/2 - CHARINDEX(' ',REVERSE(' ' + comment),CHARINDEX('#',REVERSE(' ' + comment))) + 2) AS B(beginningOfEmail)
Results:
comment email
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
blah MyEmailAddress#domain.org MyEmailAddress#domain.org
blah MyEmailAddress#domain.org blah blah MyEmailAddress#domain.org
MyEmailAddress#domain.org blah MyEmailAddress#domain.org
no email NULL

Answer 2

You can search for '#' in the string. Then you get the string at the LEFT and RIGHT side of '#'. You then want to REVERSE the LEFT side and get first occurrence of ' ' then get the SUBSTRING from there. Then REVERSE it to get the original form. Same principle apply to the RIGHT side without doing REVERSE.
Example string: 'some text someemail#domain.org some text'
LEFT = 'some text someemail'
RIGHT = '#domain.org some text'
Reverse LEFT = 'liameemos txet emos'
SUBSTRING up to the first space = 'liameemos'
REVERSE(4) = someemail
SUBSTRING (2) up to the first space = '#domain.org'
Combine 5 and 6 = 'someemail#domain.org'
Your query would be:
;WITH CteEmail(email) AS(
SELECT 'someemail#domain.org' UNION ALL
SELECT 'some text someemail#domain.org some text' UNION ALL
SELECT 'no email'
)
,CteStrings AS(
SELECT
[Left] = LEFT(email, CHARINDEX('#', email, 0) - 1),
Reverse_Left = REVERSE(LEFT(email, CHARINDEX('#', email, 0) - 1)),
[Right] = RIGHT(email, CHARINDEX('#', email, 0) + 1)
FROM CteEmail
WHERE email LIKE '%#%'
)
SELECT *,
REVERSE(
SUBSTRING(Reverse_Left, 0,
CASE
WHEN CHARINDEX(' ', Reverse_Left, 0) = 0 THEN LEN(Reverse_Left) + 1
ELSE CHARINDEX(' ', Reverse_Left, 0)
END
)
)
+
SUBSTRING([Right], 0,
CASE
WHEN CHARINDEX(' ', [Right], 0) = 0 THEN LEN([Right]) + 1
ELSE CHARINDEX(' ', [Right], 0)
END
)
FROM CteStrings
Sample Data:
email
----------------------------------------
someemail#domain.org
some text someemail#domain.org some text
no email
Result
---------------------
someemail#domain.org
someemail#domain.org

Answer 3

Stephan's answer is great when looking for a single email address in each row.
However, I was running into this error when trying to get multiple email addresses in each row:
Invalid length parameter passed to the LEFT or SUBSTRING function
I used this answer from DBA Stack Exchange to get all of the positions of # inside the string. It entails a table-valued function that returns the number of positions equal to the number a certain pattern inside the string. I also had to modify the CROSS APPLY functions to handle multiple email addresses as well.
My Table:
DECLARE #Table TABLE (comment VARCHAR(500));
INSERT INTO #Table (comment)
VALUES ('blah blah My.EmailAddress#domain.org more blah someemailaddress#domain.com even more blah asdf#gmail.com'),
('blah hello.world#domain.org more'),
('no email')
Table-valued Function:
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fnFindPatternLocation
(
#string NVARCHAR(MAX),
#term NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
SELECT pos = Number - LEN(#term)
FROM (SELECT Number, Item = LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(#string, Number,
CHARINDEX(#term, #string + #term, Number) - Number)))
FROM (SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY [object_id])
FROM sys.all_objects) AS n(Number)
WHERE Number > 1 AND Number <= CONVERT(INT, LEN(#string))
AND SUBSTRING(#term + #string, Number, LEN(#term)) = #term
) AS y);
GO
Query:
SELECT comment, pos, SUBSTRING(comment,beginningOfEmail,endOfEmail-beginningOfEmail) AS email
FROM #Table
CROSS APPLY (SELECT pos FROM dbo.fnFindPatternLocation(comment, '#')) AS A(pos)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ',comment + ' ', pos)) AS B(endOfEmail)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT pos - CHARINDEX(' ', REVERSE(SUBSTRING(comment, 1, pos))) + 2) AS C(beginningOfEmail)
Results:
comment
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
blah blah My.EmailAddress#domain.org more blah someemailaddress#domain.com even more blah asdf#gmail.com
blah blah My.EmailAddress#domain.org more blah someemailaddress#domain.com even more blah asdf#gmail.com
blah blah My.EmailAddress#domain.org more blah someemailaddress#domain.com even more blah asdf#gmail.com
blah hello.world#domain.org more
pos email
--- ------------------------------
26 My.EmailAddress#domain.org
64 someemailaddress#domain.com
95 asdf#gmail.com
17 hello.world#domain.org

Answer 4

DECLARE #t TABLE (row_id INT, email VARCHAR(100))
INSERT #t (row_id, email)
VALUES (1, 'drgkls<ivan#gvi.ru>, info#gvi.com, # dgh507-16-65#'),
(2, 'hjshfkjshfj#kjs.kjsehf herwfjewr#kjsd.com adjfhja#.com u3483dhj#hhb#.dfj'),
(3, 'kjsdghfjs4254.23detygh#jhjdfg.dgb лдоврывплдоо isgfsi# klsdfksdl#,dd.com')
DECLARE #pat VARCHAR(100) = '%[^a-z0-9#._ ]%';
WITH f AS (
SELECT row_id,
CAST(' ' + email + ' ' AS VARCHAR(102)) email,
SUBSTRING(email, PATINDEX(#pat, email), 1) bad,
PATINDEX(#pat, email) pat
FROM #t
UNION ALL
SELECT row_id,
CAST(REPLACE(email, bad, ' ') AS VARCHAR(102)),
SUBSTRING(REPLACE(email, bad, ' '), PATINDEX(#pat, REPLACE(email, bad, ' ')), 1) bad,
PATINDEX(#pat, REPLACE(email, bad, ' '))
FROM f
WHERE PATINDEX(#pat, email) > 0
),
s AS
(
SELECT row_id,
email, PATINDEX('%#%', email) pos
FROM f
WHERE pat = 0
AND PATINDEX('%#%', email) > 0
UNION ALL
SELECT row_id,
SUBSTRING(email, pos + 1, 102),
PATINDEX('%#%', SUBSTRING(email, pos + 1, 102))
FROM s
WHERE PATINDEX('%#%', SUBSTRING(email, pos + 1, 102)) > 0
)
SELECT row_id, o1 + pp
FROM s
CROSS APPLY (SELECT REVERSE(LEFT(email, pos -1)) s1) x
CROSS APPLY (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', s1) i1) y
CROSS APPLY (SELECT REVERSE(LEFT(s1, i1 -1)) o1 WHERE i1 > 0) z
CROSS APPLY (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ', email, pos) i2) e
CROSS APPLY (SELECT SUBSTRING(email, pos, i2 -pos) pp WHERE i2 > pos + 1) q
WHERE LEN(o1) > 1
AND CHARINDEX('.', pp) > 0
AND PATINDEX('%#%#%', pp) = 0
AND PATINDEX('%#.%', pp) = 0
AND PATINDEX('%.', pp) = 0

Answer 5

This one line would also work (a bit long line though lol):
--declare #a varchar(100)
--set #a = 'a asfd saasd asdfgh#asd.com wqe z zx cxzc '
select substring(substring(#a,0,charindex('#',#a)),len(substring(#a,0,charindex('#',#a)))-charindex(' ',reverse(substring(#a,0,charindex('#',#a))))+2,len(substring(#a,0,charindex('#',#a)))) + substring(substring(#a,charindex('#',#a),len(#a)),0,charindex(' ',substring(#a,charindex('#',#a),len(#a))))

Answer 6

For strings that contain new line characters I modified Felix's answer using PATINDEX to search for the first control character rather than white space.
I also had to modify the Right field to subtract the correct amount of text.
WITH CteEmail(email) AS(
SELECT 'example string with new lines
Email: some.example#email.address.com
(first email address - should be returned)
Email: another#test.co.uk
(other email addresses should be ignored
more example text' UNION ALL
SELECT 'Email: some.example#email.address.com' UNION ALL
SELECT 'someemail#domain.org' UNION ALL
SELECT 'some text someemail#domain.org some text' UNION ALL
SELECT 'no email'
)
,CteStrings AS(
SELECT
[Left] = LEFT(email, CHARINDEX('#', email, 0) - 1),
Reverse_Left = REVERSE(LEFT(email, CHARINDEX('#', email, 0) - 1)),
[Right] = RIGHT(email, LEN(email) - CHARINDEX('#', email, 0) + 1 )
FROM CteEmail
WHERE email LIKE '%#%'
)
SELECT *,
REVERSE(
SUBSTRING(Reverse_Left, 0,
CASE
WHEN PATINDEX('%[' + CHAR(10)+'- ]%', Reverse_Left) = 0 THEN LEN(Reverse_Left) + 1
ELSE PATINDEX('%[' + CHAR(0)+'- ]%', Reverse_Left)
END
)
)
+
SUBSTRING([Right], 0,
CASE
WHEN PATINDEX('%[' + CHAR(0)+'- ]%', [Right]) = 0 THEN LEN([Right]) + 1
ELSE PATINDEX('%[' + CHAR(0)+'- ]%', [Right])
END
)
FROM CteStrings

Answer 7

If you need it in a function then this works for me...
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[extractEmail]
(
#input nvarchar(500)
)
RETURNS nvarchar(100)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #atPosition int
DECLARE #firstRelevantSpace int
DECLARE #name nvarchar(100)
DECLARE #secondRelelvantSpace int
DECLARE #everythingAfterAt nvarchar(500)
DECLARE #domain nvarchar(100)
DECLARE #email nvarchar(100) = ''
IF CHARINDEX('#', #input,0) > 0
BEGIN
SET #input = ' ' + #input
SET #atPosition = CHARINDEX('#', #input, 0)
SET #firstRelevantSpace = CHARINDEX(' ',REVERSE(LEFT(#input, CHARINDEX('#', #input, 0) - 1)))
SET #name = REVERSE(LEFT(REVERSE(LEFT(#input, #atPosition - 1)),#firstRelevantSpace-1))
SET #everythingAfterAt = SUBSTRING(#input, #atPosition,len(#input)-#atPosition+1)
SET #secondRelelvantSpace = CHARINDEX(' ',#everythingAfterAt)
IF #secondRelelvantSpace = 0
SET #domain = #everythingAfterAt
ELSE
SET #domain = LEFT(#everythingAfterAt, #secondRelelvantSpace)
SET #email = #name + #domain
END
RETURN #email
END

Answer 8

Using Cymorg's Function: I ran into an issue where my data included CR/LF and it prevented the Function from working 100%. It was tough to figure out because, when using the function in a select statement, it would return occasionally incorrect results. If I copied the offending text from my query results and invoked the function using sql print with the text in quotes it would work fine. Inconceivable!
After much trial and error, I used sql replace to replace the CR/LF with spaces and huzza! I am an excellent guesser.
select extractEmail(replace(replace(MyColumn,CHAR(10),' '),CHAR(13),' ')) as AsYouWish from FacilityContacts