Thread: yet another simple SQL question
Ok, You guys must be getting sick of these newbie questions, but I can't resist since I am learning a lot from these email lists and getting results quick! Thanks to everyone for their contributions. Here is my questions.... I have a column that looks like this firstname ----------------- John B Mark A Jennifer D Basically I have the first name followed by a middle initial. Is there a quick command I can run to strip the middle initial? Basically, I just need to delete the middle initial so the column would then look like the following: firstname --------------- John Mark Jennifer Thanks again for all of your help today. Everything you guys have been sending has produced successful results. Thanks.
I would use the same string functions and tools that you used in the previous solution. Look for whitespace, and then break up the string based on that character. The function list is located here for your reference: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/functions-string.html Joshua wrote: > Ok, > > You guys must be getting sick of these newbie questions, but I can't > resist since I am learning a lot from these email lists and getting > results quick! Thanks to everyone for their contributions. > > Here is my questions.... > > I have a column that looks like this > > firstname > ----------------- > John B > Mark A > Jennifer D > > Basically I have the first name followed by a middle initial. Is there a > quick command I can run to strip the middle initial? Basically, I just > need to delete the middle initial so the column would then look like the > following: > > firstname > --------------- > John > Mark > Jennifer > > Thanks again for all of your help today. Everything you guys have been > sending has produced successful results. > > Thanks. > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 3: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? > > http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq > > >
am Mon, dem 25.06.2007, um 12:44:25 -0500 mailte Joshua folgendes:
> Ok,
>
> You guys must be getting sick of these newbie questions, but I can't
> resist since I am learning a lot from these email lists and getting
> results quick! Thanks to everyone for their contributions.
>
> Here is my questions....
>
> I have a column that looks like this
>
> firstname
> -----------------
> John B
> Mark A
> Jennifer D
>
> Basically I have the first name followed by a middle initial. Is there a
> quick command I can run to strip the middle initial? Basically, I just
> need to delete the middle initial so the column would then look like the
> following:
>
> firstname
> ---------------
> John
> Mark
> Jennifer
Yes, of course:
test=# select split_part('My Name', ' ', 1);
split_part
------------
My
(1 row)
And now, i think, you should read our fine manual:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/interactive/
Andreas
--
Andreas Kretschmer
Kontakt: Heynitz: 035242/47150, D1: 0160/7141639 (mehr: -> Header)
GnuPG-ID: 0x3FFF606C, privat 0x7F4584DA http://wwwkeys.de.pgp.net
Most of these commands are available within the online documentation: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/interactive/functions.html That said, you might try: UPDATE mytable SET firstname = TRIM(SUBSTRING(firstname,1,position(' ' in firstname))); Charley Joshua wrote: > Ok, > > You guys must be getting sick of these newbie questions, but I can't > resist since I am learning a lot from these email lists and getting > results quick! Thanks to everyone for their contributions. > > Here is my questions.... > > I have a column that looks like this > > firstname > ----------------- > John B > Mark A > Jennifer D > > Basically I have the first name followed by a middle initial. Is there a > quick command I can run to strip the middle initial? Basically, I just > need to delete the middle initial so the column would then look like the > following: > > firstname > --------------- > John > Mark > Jennifer > > Thanks again for all of your help today. Everything you guys have been > sending has produced successful results. > > Thanks. > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 3: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? > > http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq >