Posted by masri999 on 03/09/07 08:46

Do something like this
declare @tbla table ( id int ,names varchar(100))
insert into @tbla values (1,'John Doe')
insert into @tbla values (1,'John & Jane Doe')
insert into @tbla values (1,'Mr & Mrs Doe ')

select
id,
firstname = case when names like '%&%' then names
else
case when charindex(' ',names) > 0
then substring(names,1,charindex(' ',names) - 1)
else names
end
end ,
lastname = case when names like '%&%' then ''
else
case when charindex(' ',names) > 0
then substring(names,charindex(' ',names)+ 1,len(names) -
charindex(' ',names))
else names
end
end

from @tbla

M A Srinivas




On Mar 9, 1:20 pm, "portCo" <woos...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I am re-organizing the database. We used to have field 'names' in our
> table for our first name and last name. However, I want to have those
> names in different field.
>
> FYI, I have two different tables in different databases. The A
> database contains A table with 'names" field. The B database contains
> B table with 'fname' and 'lname' I want to copy data A table to B
> table.
>
> How can I parse names field into first name and last name fields?
>
> Here are some examples which are in the database.
> (
> id names
> 01 John Doe
> 02 John & Jane Doe
> 03 Mr & Mrs Doe
> ) something like this. It might contain '&' and two names. If there
> are two names, then use first name.
>
> Thanks guys,

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