TSQL How to get the 2nd number from a string - sql

Question

We have the below in row in MS SQL:
Got event with: 123.123.123.123, event 34, brown fox
How can we extract the 2nd number ie the 34 reliable in one line of SQL?

Answer 1

Here's one way to do it using SUBSTRING and PATINDEX -- I used a CTE just so it wouldn't look so awful :)
WITH CTE AS (
SELECT
SUBSTRING(Data,CHARINDEX(',',Data)+1,LEN(Data)) data
FROM Test
)
SELECT LEFT(SUBSTRING(Data, PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', Data), 8000),
PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%',
SUBSTRING(Data, PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', Data), 8000) + 'X')-1)
FROM CTE
And here is some sample Fiddle.
As commented, CTEs will only work with 2005 and higher. If by chance you're using 2000, then this will work without the CTE:
SELECT LEFT(SUBSTRING(SUBSTRING(Data,CHARINDEX(',',Data)+1,LEN(Data)),
PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', SUBSTRING(Data,CHARINDEX(',',Data)+1,LEN(Data))), 8000),
PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%',
SUBSTRING(SUBSTRING(Data,CHARINDEX(',',Data)+1,LEN(Data)),
PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', SUBSTRING(Data,CHARINDEX(',',Data)+1,LEN(Data))), 8000) + 'X')-1)
FROM Test

Answer 2

Simply replace #s with your column name to apply this to a table. Assuming that number is between last comma and space before the last comma. Sql-Fiddle-Demo
declare #s varchar(100) = '123.123.123.123, event 34, brown fox'
select right(first, charindex(' ', reverse(first),1) ) final
from (
select left(#s,len(#s) - charindex(',',reverse(#s),1)) first
--from tableName
) X
OR if it is between first and second commas then try, DEMO
select substring(first, charindex(' ',first,1),
charindex(',', first,1)-charindex(' ',first,1)) final
from (
select right(#s,len(#s) - charindex(',',#s,1)-1) first
) X

Answer 3

I've thought of another way that's not been mentioned yet. Presuming the following are true:
Always one comma before the second "part"
It's always the word "event" with the number in the second part
You are using SQL Server 2005+
Then you could use the built in ParseName function meant for parsing the SysName datatype.
--Variable to hold your example
DECLARE #test NVARCHAR(50)
SET #test = 'Got event with: 123.123.123.123, event 34, brown fox'
SELECT Ltrim(Rtrim(Replace(Parsename(Replace(Replace(#test, '.', ''), ',', '.'), 2), 'event', '')))
Results:
34
ParseName parses around dots, but we want it to parse around commas. Here's the logic of what I've done:
Remove all existing dots in the string, in this case swap them with empty string.
Swap all commas for dots for ParseName to use
Use ParseName and ask for the second "piece". In your example this gives us the value
" event 34".
Remove the word "event" from the string.
Trim both ends and return the value.
I've no comments on performance vs. the other solutions, and it looks just as messy. Thought I'd throw the idea out there anyway!