SQL Server : pattern matching - sql-server

I'm trying to show string which has only complete word chain in it. Also wanted to know if there is something as REGEX similar to MySQL in SQL Server.
Select *
From table
Where Name Like 'chain%'
Output:
Chain
Chain Stays
Chainring
Chainring Bolts
Chainring Nut
Expected output:
Chain
Chain Stays
Since its an online question resources can be found here.
https://www.w3resource.com/sql-exercises/adventureworks/sql-adventureworks-exercise-56.php

You can ensure your search term and argument are properly delimited:
select *
from table
where Concat(' ', Name, ' ') like '% chain %';

Related

How can I pull out multiple substrings from within a single string

For example, I have this string in an SSMS DB:
Sent for processing:1 ;DK A/C-WestlySnipes:ACCT NOT FOUND ;DK A/C-SonyaBlade:ACCT NOT FOUND
What I want to be able to do is pull out WestleySnipes and SonyaBlade from within that string and store it in a temp table. The names can be different and there can be more than one name within a particular string.
I've tried using substrings combined with CharIndex but I can only pull out 1 value. Not sure how to pull out multiple names from within the same string where the names can change in any given string.
In SQL Server 2016 and later, STRING_SPLIT(string, delimiter) is a table valued function. You can split your text string with a ; delimiter like so. (fiddle).
SELECT value FROM STRING_SPLIT(
'Sent for processing:1 ;DK A/C-WestlySnipes:ACCT NOT FOUND ;DK A/C-SonyaBlade:ACCT NOT FOUND',
';')
You get back this:
value
Sent for processing:1
DK A/C-WestlySnipes:ACCT NOT FOUND
DK A/C-SonyaBlade:ACCT NOT FOUND
Then you can use ordinary string-editing functions on value in your query to extract the precise substrings you need. Something like this will work for your specific example. (fiddle.)
SELECT
value,
REPLACE(REPLACE(value, 'DK A/C-', ''), ':ACCT NOT FOUND', '') val
FROM STRING_SPLIT(
'Sent for processing:1 ;DK A/C-WestlySnipes:ACCT NOT FOUND ;DK A/C-SonyaBlade:ACCT NOT FOUND',
';')
WHERE value LIKE 'DK %'

Access SQL Like * alternative in MS SQL server

I'm working on a project that has a search engine. AS we know in MS ACCESS we could use "*" in Queries under Criteria field to retrieve all records.
In SQL Server I need the same technique. I have tried different LIKE with WHERE Clauses. But I still didn't get the exact result I want.
In this project I have 3 textboxes (Category, Item, Location). If the user leaves any of them empty. I want to retrieve all the records.
I need something like this:
string t1,t2,t3;
if(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(txtCategory.Text))
t1=txtCategory.Text;
else
t1="*";
if(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(txtItem.Text))
t2=txtItem.Text;
else
t2="*"
if(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(txtLoc.Text))
t2=txtLoc.Text;
else
t3="*";
-
-
-
// in a function i have this :
SELECT * FROM Table_Items WHERE Category='"+t1+"' AND Item='"+t2+"' AND Location='"+t3+"'"
in ms sql server you can use the same technique but instead of * you should use %.
for examples:
%: means any
a%: all strings that start with a
%z: all strings that end with z
SO, your code should look like something as below:
// codes here
t3="%";
WHERE ColumnName LIKE t3
or
Where ColumnName LIKE '%'
I hope that will help you.
Change your * to the %
... Where Category Like "'+t1+"' and Item Like '"+t2+"' ...

Attempting to run a while loop in my select statement under cases in SQL Server 2012

The Data
Let us say I have a field in SQL that consists of multi-line Information, each of which consists of i topics, each topic consisting of m points of information. Topics are prefaced with 'i.' and information with a dash. It looks something like:
________________________________________________
|Number | Information
|===============================================
|1 | 1. Topic 1.1
| | -Info 1.1.1
| | - ... [more info]
| | 2. Topic 1.2
| | -Info 1.2.1
| | - ...[more info]
| | ... [more topics]
|_______|_____________________________
|2 | 1. Topic 2.1
|....and so on
The Current System
What I am doing with this information is to parse out each topic into it's own column, then unpivoting those columns and searching for Topics that contain a given keyword #keyword.
Currently the code reads something like:
Select
Number
,Case When Information LIKE '%1. %2. %'
Then substring (Information, charindex('1.',Information),
charindex('2.', Information) -(charindex('1.',Information)+2) )
Else Information
End as [Topic1]
,Case When Information LIKE '%2. %3. %'
Then substring (Information, charindex('2.',Information),
charindex('3.', Information) -(charindex('2.',Information)+2) )
Else 'N/A'
End as [Topic2]
...repeat 2nd case for each set of numbers up to '%20. %21. %'
The only reason the first one is different is because if it doesn't match the pattern then I want to grab the whole field so that I don't miss anything. I then unpivot the Topic fields that I just created into a general [Topic] field, and then utilize a WHERE [Topic] LIKE '%' +#keyword+'%' to pull out any particular topics and their associated case number to output as my final table. The cases can have anywhere from 1 to 40+ topics attached, with 1-7 attached info fields per topic.
The Desired Modification
Notice: To make the code easier to read, I will not be writing my substring code in proper syntax, instead opting to write substring(Information,ci(#Iter), ci(#Iter+1)-ci(#Iter)) to denote the substring running from the position given by '(iter).' to the position given by '(iter+1).'
What I would like to do is to perform the following:
Declare #Iter smallint
Declare #Result varchar(max)
Select
Number
, Set #Iter=1
Set #Result = ' '
Case When Information LIKE '%'+#keyword+'%' --keyword chosen at front end
Then While #Iter < #n --#n set by the user from front end
Begin
Case When Information LIKE '%' + cast(#Iter as varchar(5))
+ '. %'+cast((#Iter+1) as varchar(5))+'. %'
and substring(Information,ci(#Iter), ci(#Iter+1)-ci(#Iter) )
LIKE '%'+#keyword+'%'
Then Set #Result = #Result +substring(Information,ci(#Iter),
ci(#Iter+1)-ci(#Iter) )
Else Set #Result = #Result end
Set #Iter = #Iter +1
End
Else ' ' end [Result]
The Explanation
In case what I want isn't clear, I'll run through what I'm trying to accomplish
I want to output a list of case numbers that include Topics that include the keyword.
For each case in the list I want to output only those topics that include the keyword.
I want to allow the end user of the report to choose how many Topics in each case they'll search.
I don't want to have to create a table with a column for each Topic when I can't know how many the user will want to create.
Due to these considerations it feels like a loop would be the best option, but there are problems in trying to accomplish that.
The Problem
SQL server won't allow me to utilize a loop in my Select statement--Incorrect syntax near 'While'.
The place where the information comes from prohibits normalization of the information in the table I'm searching
Even if it didn't I am barred from creating my own permanent tables at work, so I can't normalize the data for all incoming data
I am also not allowed to write my own stored procedures.
If there is any way (for example through a cte) to implement these changes, I'm open to hearing them! I'm mostly looking at ways to make the code less daunting looking (20 cases to produce 20 fields in my current cte looks scary, which then needs 3 ctes just to unpack properly [unpivot, removal of certain cases meeting certain conditions, combination into a workable output table])
Thanks in advance for reading this and helping!
I think you're working too hard.
If all you need are topic names and numbers, isn't it easier to split the Information column by newlines, and then collect all lines that start with a number and not a "dash" by then, you will have a list of strings that look like:
Topic 1.1
Topic 2.1
And then it's easy to just match the lines against the keyword?
Something like this untested SQL:
select SUBSTRING(s.value,1, PATINDEX('% %', s.Value) - 1) AS topicId
, SUBSTRING(s.Value, PATINDEX('% %', s.Value), LENGTH(s.Value)) AS topicText
from [table that would make Codd cry] t
cross apply STRING_SPLIT(t.Information, CHAR(13)) s
where s.Value LIKE '[0-9]%' -- Starts with a number
AND s.Value LIKE #keywords --matches keywords
Not sure if you can create functions or you have STRING_SPLIT available in your SQL Server version, but if you don't, there are some string splitting CTEs you can find on the net to do the job for you

Concat the values in a string with SQL Server

I want to select a list of items and part numbers for for each item as a string:
SELECT top 100 *
FROM ii
OUTER APPLY
(SELECT def, ( ipr.part_number + ',') as prt
FROM ipr
WHERE ii.item_id = ipr.item_id
FOR XML PATH('') ) PN
The error is:
[Error Code: 8155, SQL State: S0002] No column name was specified for
column 1 of 'PN'.
How can I fix this?
I think that your whole OUTER APPLY statement generates one XML for both default_part_number and concatenated string, which(the whole XML) doesn't have a name.
What you could try to do would be adding alias like this AS PN(TestThis).
However, I don't think that you're expecting result you're going to get. It would better if you'd give us some example data and expected output. It will be easier for us to solve your problem in that case.
The combination of XML and STUFF is funny but perfectly fitting to your needs.
First you concat your strings with the ', ' in front, then you must return your XML with ", TPYE). You must read the result with ".value()" and use STUFF to replace the first ', '.
You'll find a lot of exampels in the net...

find exact string match and replace it in sql server

Is there a (supposedly) simple way to get an exact match when using the replace function in SQL Server 2012? (I'm open to other searching possibilities as well, of course)
For example, I'm using the following code to grab all the objects in a DB containing 'texter' in it at some point:
select OBJECT_NAME(object_id) name,
OBJECT_DEFINITION(object_id) code,
type
into #tester
from sys.objects
where OBJECT_DEFINITION(object_id) LIKE '%texter%'
This doesn't seem to differentiate between .texter, #texter or stupidtexter.
and so if I use:
update #tester
set code = REPLACE(code, 'texter', 'bluenose')
where code LIKE '%texter%'
It's going to replace any variant of 'texter' with 'bluenose'
Let's assume I only want to replace the ' texter' and '.texter' versions of this and nothing else (noting that within each object it is possible that #texter or stupidtexter may also be present in the object code).
Is there a way I can differentiate between the variants of 'texter', #texter and stupidtexter?
Thanks
The solution was:
replace(REPLACE(code, '.texter', 'bluenose'), ' texter', 'bluenose')
Thanks to Sean Lange for the answer!

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