I have a row of strings that are in the following format:
'Order was assigned to lastname,firsname'
I need to cut this string down into just the last and first name but it is always a different name for each record.
The 'Order was assigned to' part is always the same.......
Thanks
I am using SQL Server. It is multiple records with different names in each record.
In your specific case you can use something like:
SELECT SUBSTRING(str, 23) FROM table
However, this is not very scalable, should the format of your strings ever change.
If you are using an Oracle database, you would want to use SUBSTR instead.
Edit:
For databases where the third parameter is not optional, you could use SUBSTRING(str, 23, LEN(str))
Somebody would have to test to see if this is better or worse than subtraction, as in Martin Smith's solution but gives you the same result in the end.
In addition to the SUBSTRING methods, you could also use a REPLACE function. I don't know which would have better performance over millions of rows, although I suspect that it would be the SUBSTRING - especially if you were working with CHAR instead of VARCHAR.
SELECT REPLACE(my_column, 'Order was assigned to ', '')
For SQL Server
WITH testData AS
(
SELECT 'Order was assigned to lastname,firsname' as Col1 UNION ALL
SELECT 'Order was assigned to Bloggs, Jo' as Col1
)
SELECT SUBSTRING(Col1,23,LEN(Col1)-22) AS Name
from testData
Returns
Name
---------------------------------------
lastname,firsname
Bloggs, Jo
on MS SQL Server:
declare #str varchar(100) = 'Order was assigned to lastname,firsname'
declare #strLen1 int = DATALENGTH('Order was assigned to ')
declare #strLen2 int = len(#str)
select #strlen1, #strLen2, substring(#str,#strLen1,#strLen2),
RIGHT(#str, #strlen2-#strlen1)
I would require that a colon or some other delimiter be between the message and the name.
Then you could just search for the index of that character and know that anything after it was the data you need...
Example with format changing over time:
CREATE TABLE #Temp (OrderInfo NVARCHAR(MAX))
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES ('Order was assigned to :Smith,Mary')
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES ('Order was assigned to :Holmes,Larry')
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES ('New Format over time :LootAt,Me')
SELECT SUBSTRING(OrderInfo, CHARINDEX(':',OrderInfo)+1, LEN(OrderInfo))
FROM #Temp
DROP TABLE #Temp
Related
I am looking to get an order number from a column named KEY_Ref, this ref column have various contents, but some rows look like this
LINE_NO=15^ORDER_NO=176572^RELEASE_NO=1^
Now I am interested in getting the value for ORDER_NO (176572 in this case)
How would I (In SQL Server) go about getting this (Or other) value from the main string
The logic is always
key1=value1^key2=value2^key3=value3^
You can use string_split():
select t.*, s.orderno
from t outer apply
(select stuff(s.value, 1, 9, '') as orderno
from string_split(t.key_ref, '^') s
where s.value like 'ORDER_NO=%'
) s;
Here is a db<>fiddle.
this is going to be a bit lengthy answer however if your SQL server version doesn't support string_split function you may use this.
declare #str varchar(100) = 'LINE_NO=15^ORDER_NO=176572^RELEASE_NO=1^'
declare #substr1 varchar(50) = substring(#str,charindex('^',#str)+1,len(#str))
declare #substr2 varchar(50) = substring(#substr1,charindex('=',#substr1)+1,charindex('^',#substr1)-charindex('=',#substr1)-1)
select #substr2 as 'order number'
the final variable will produce the desired value and you must merge the above queries to a single query that can fetch the value from the table in a single select statement.
this will work only if the pattern doesn't deviate from the one you've mentioned.
I'm trying to insert comma separated Guids into a temp table, to later check for a value using IN in these Guids. The following query is inserting only the first value in the table twice.
DECLARE #campaignids nvarchar(max) = '1DEBD122-FF1B-4E87-8812-D427ABA5D54E,FBD06A2E-24D1-4C06-B71D-B4306D8EA3BD'
DECLARE #TempCampaignIds TABLE (CampaignId uniqueidentifier)
INSERT INTO #TempCampaignIds
SELECT CAST(#campaignids AS uniqueidentifier)
FROM STRING_SPLIT(#campaignids, ',')
SELECT CampaignId FROM #TempCampaignIds
--result
CampaignId
1DEBD122-FF1B-4E87-8812-D427ABA5D54E
1DEBD122-FF1B-4E87-8812-D427ABA5D54E
You need to use the value from the string:
INSERT INTO #TempCampaignIds (CampaignId)
SELECT CAST(s.value AS uniqueidentifier)
FROM STRING_SPLIT(#campaignids, ',') s;
Here is a db<>fiddle.
I'm actually surprised that your code works, but SQL Server converts the first value of such a string without an error. That doesn't seem to happen for other data types. In fact, SQL Server appears to look at only the first 36 characters for a unique identifier.
I am passing a comma-delimited list of values into a stored procedure. I need to execute a query to see if the ID of an entity is in the comma-delimited list. Unfortunately, I think I do not understand something.
When I execute the following stored procedure:
exec dbo.myStoredProcedure #myFilter=N'1, 2, 3, 4'
I receive the following error:
"Conversion failed when converting the varchar value '1, 2, 3, 4' to data type int."
My stored procedure is fairly basic. It looks like this:
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[myStoredProcedure]
#myFilter nvarchar(512) = NULL
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON
BEGIN
-- Remove the quote marks so the filter will work with the "IN" statement
SELECT #myFilter = REPLACE(#myFilter, '''', '')
-- Execute the query
SELECT
t.ID,
t.Name
FROM
MyTable t
WHERE
t.ID IN (#myFilter)
ORDER BY
t.Name
END
How do I use a parameter in a SQL statement as described above? Thank you!
You could make function that takes your parameter, slipts it and returns table with all the numbers in it.
If your are working with lists or arrays in SQL Server, I recommend that you read Erland Sommarskogs wonderful stuff:
Arrays and Lists in SQL Server 2005
You need to split the string and dump it into a temp table. Then you join against the temp table.
There are many examples of this, here is one at random.
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/itai/archive/2009/02/01/t-sql-split-function.aspx
Absent a split function, something like this:
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[myStoredProcedure]
#myFilter varchar(512) = NULL -- don't use NVARCHAR for a list of INTs
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON
BEGIN
SELECT
t.ID,
t.Name
FROM
MyTable t
WHERE
CHARINDEX(','+CONVERT(VARCHAR,t.ID)+',',#myFilter) > 0
ORDER BY
t.Name
END
Performance will be poor. A table scan every time. Better to use a split function. See: http://www.sommarskog.se/arrays-in-sql.html
I would create a function that takes your comma delimited string and splits it and returns a single column table variable with each value in its own row. Select that column from the returned table in your IN statement.
I found a cute way of doing this - but it smells a bit.
declare #delimitedlist varchar(8000)
set #delimitedlist = '|1|2|33|11|3134|'
select * from mytable where #delimitedlist like '%|' + cast(id as varchar) + '|%'
So... this will return all records with an id equal to 1, 2, 33, 11, or 3134.
EDIT:
I would also add that this is not vulnerable to SQL injection (whereas dynamic SQL relies on your whitelisting/blacklisting techniques to ensure it isn't vulnerable). It might have a performance hit on large sets of data, but it works and it's secure.
I have a couple of blog posts on this as well, with a lot of interesting followup comments and dialog:
More on splitting lists
Processing list of integers
I was actually asked this myself a few weeks ago, whereas I know exactly how to do this with a SP or UDF but I was wondering if there was a quick and easy way of doing this without these methods. I'm assuming that there is and I just can't find it.
A point I need to make is that although we know what characters are allowed (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) we don't want to specify what is not allowed (##!$ etc...). Also, we want to pull the rows which have the illegal characters so that it can be listed to the user to fix (as we have no control over the input process we can't do anything at that point).
I have looked through SO and Google previously, but was unable to find anything that did what I wanted. I have seen many examples which can tell you if it contains alphanumeric characters, or doesn't, but something that is able to pull out an apostrophe in a sentence I have not found in query form.
Please note also that values can be null or '' (empty) in this varchar column.
Won't this do it?
SELECT * FROM TABLE
WHERE COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%[^a-zA-Z0-9]%'
Setup
use tempdb
create table mytable ( mycol varchar(40) NULL)
insert into mytable VALUES ('abcd')
insert into mytable VALUES ('ABCD')
insert into mytable VALUES ('1234')
insert into mytable VALUES ('efg%^&hji')
insert into mytable VALUES (NULL)
insert into mytable VALUES ('')
insert into mytable VALUES ('apostrophe '' in a sentence')
SELECT * FROM mytable
WHERE mycol LIKE '%[^a-zA-Z0-9]%'
drop table mytable
Results
mycol
----------------------------------------
efg%^&hji
apostrophe ' in a sentence
Sql server has very limited Regex support. You can use PATINDEX with something like this
PATINDEX('%[a-zA-Z0-9]%',Col)
Have a look at PATINDEX (Transact-SQL)
and Pattern Matching in Search Conditions
I found this page with quite a neat solution. What makes it great is that you get an indication of what the character is and where it is. Then it gives a super simple way to fix it (which can be combined and built into a piece of driver code to scale up it's application).
DECLARE #tablename VARCHAR(1000) ='Schema.Table'
DECLARE #columnname VARCHAR(100)='ColumnName'
DECLARE #counter INT = 0
DECLARE #sql VARCHAR(MAX)
WHILE #counter <=255
BEGIN
SET #sql=
'SELECT TOP 10 '+#columnname+','+CAST(#counter AS VARCHAR(3))+' as CharacterSet, CHARINDEX(CHAR('+CAST(#counter AS VARCHAR(3))+'),'+#columnname+') as LocationOfChar
FROM '+#tablename+'
WHERE CHARINDEX(CHAR('+CAST(#counter AS VARCHAR(3))+'),'+#columnname+') <> 0'
PRINT (#sql)
EXEC (#sql)
SET #counter = #counter + 1
END
and then...
UPDATE Schema.Table
SET ColumnName= REPLACE(Columnname,CHAR(13),'')
Credit to Ayman El-Ghazali.
SELECT * FROM TABLE_NAME WHERE COL_NAME LIKE '%[^0-9a-zA-Z $#$.$-$''''$,]%'
This works best for me when I'm trying to find any special characters in a string
I have a table with 1 column of varchar values. I am looking for a way to concatenate those values into a single value without a loop, if possible. If a loop is the most efficient way of going about this, then I'll go that way but figured I'd ask for other options before defaulting to that method. I'd also like to keep this inside of a SQL query.
Ultimately, I want to do the opposite of a split function.
Is it possible to do without a loop (or cursor) or should I just use a loop to make this happen?
Edit:
Since there was a very good answer associated with how to do it in MySql (as opposed to MS Sql like I initially intended), I decided to retag so others may be able to find the answer as well.
declare #concat varchar(max)
set #concat = ''
select #concat = #concat + col1 + ','
from tablename1
try this:
DECLARE #YourTable table (Col1 int)
INSERT INTO #YourTable VALUES (1)
INSERT INTO #YourTable VALUES (2)
INSERT INTO #YourTable VALUES (30)
INSERT INTO #YourTable VALUES (400)
INSERT INTO #YourTable VALUES (12)
INSERT INTO #YourTable VALUES (46454)
SELECT
STUFF(
(
SELECT
', ' + cast(Col1 as varchar(30))
FROM #YourTable
WHERE Col1<=400
ORDER BY Col1
FOR XML PATH('')
), 1, 2, ''
)
OUTPUT:
-------------------
1, 2, 12, 30, 400
(1 row(s) affected)
I just tackled a problem like this and looping took forever. So, I concantenated the values in the presentation medium (in this case Crystal Reports) and it was very fast.
Just an idea.
If it is MySQL, you can use GROUP_CONCAT
SELECT a, GROUP_CONCAT(b SEPARATOR ',') FROM table GROUP BY a;
Probably dated now but check out Adam Machanic's post on the topic.
And this one is certainly dated; I wrote it in 2004.
Why do I prefer a function over "keeping it inside a SQL query"? Because you'll probably have to do this more than once. Why not encapsulate that code into a single module instead of repeating it all over the place?