How to SELECT specific characters using SQL in SQL server database - sql-server

Question

How can I select only information that start with a #?
I have a table with 5 columns and in one of the columns i.e. the comments column there is information like:
#2345 Changed by Mark
Paul changed ticket number #5923
Someone changed ticket number #5823 and #9333
#3555 is missing from the list, can only see #5789, #9000 and #4568
In the sample of 4 rows above, I want my select statement to return only ticket numbers as shown below:
comments
#2345
#5923
#5823, #9333
#5789, #9000, #4568
Someone said regular expressions can do the work for me but I am fresh graduate and have never seen such before. Can you help me please??

Answer 1

Select the required fields from your database table using SQL, then perform regex operations on the result in another language such as c++, php etc. when outputting your result to the client

Answer 2

First Create Function To extract #numeric values
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.udf_GetNumeric
(
#strAlphaNumeric VARCHAR(256))
RETURNS VARCHAR(256
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #intAlpha INT
SET #intAlpha = PATINDEX('%[^#0-9]%', #strAlphaNumeric)
BEGIN
WHILE #intAlpha > 0
BEGIN
SET #strAlphaNumeric = STUFF(#strAlphaNumeric, #intAlpha, 1, '' )
SET #intAlpha = PATINDEX('%[^#0-9]%', #strAlphaNumeric )
END
END
RETURN ISNULL(#strAlphaNumeric,0)
END
GO
By Using Below Code we can Extract the numeric values
Declare #TempTable TABLE(ID Int Identity,Value varchar(1000))
INSERT INTO #TempTable
SELECT '#2345 Changed by Mark'
UNION ALL SELECT 'Paul changed ticket number #5923'
UNION ALL SELECT 'Someone changed ticket number #5823 and #9333'
UNION ALL SELECT '#3555 is missing from the list, can only see #5789, #9000 and #4568'
SELECT ID,
RIGHT(LTRIM(REPLACE(Value,'#',' ,#')),LEN(RTRIM(LTRIM(REPLACE(Value,'#',' ,#'))))-1)AS Value FROM
(
SELECT ID,dbo.udf_GetNumeric(Value) AS Value From #TempTable
)Dt
If you need to extract Numeric values Instead of pre-fixed wirh '#' Symbol
SELECT ID,
REPLACE(RIGHT(LTRIM(REPLACE(Value,'#',' ,#')),LEN(RTRIM(LTRIM(REPLACE(Value,'#',' ,#'))))-1),'#',' ')AS Value FROM
(
SELECT ID,dbo.udf_GetNumeric(Value) AS Value From #TempTable
)Dt
OutPut
ID Value
----------
1 #2345
2 #5923
3 #5823 ,#9333
4 #3555 ,#5789 ,#9000 ,#4568

Answer 3

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#TempTable') IS NOT NULL
Drop table #TempTable
CREATE TABLE [dbo].#TempTable(
[ID] [int] NOT NULL,
[Value] [varchar](1000) NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
INSERT [dbo].#TempTable ([ID], [Value]) VALUES (1, N'#2345 Changed by Mark #111111,767677,33333,#5656 vbvb')
GO
INSERT [dbo].#TempTable ([ID], [Value]) VALUES (2, N'Paul changed ticket number #5923,5555555 464646 #010101,5555544rrr,wwww AND #4 ')
GO
INSERT [dbo].#TempTable ([ID], [Value]) VALUES (3, N'Someone changed ticket number #5823 and #9333,7777')
GO
INSERT [dbo].#TempTable ([ID], [Value]) VALUES (4, N'#3555 is missing from the list, can only see #5789, #9000 and #4568')
GO
;WITH cte
AS
(
SELECT ID,Split.a.value('.', 'VARCHAR(1000)') AS TablesData
FROM (
SELECT ID,CAST('<S>' + REPLACE(Value, ' ', '</S><S>') + '</S>' AS XML) AS TablesData
FROM #TempTable
) AS A
CROSS APPLY TablesData.nodes('/S') AS Split(a)
)
,Final
AS
(
SELECT ID,TablesData FROM
(
SELECT ID, Split.a.value('.', 'VARCHAR(1000)') AS TablesData,CHARINDEX('#',Split.a.value('.', 'VARCHAR(1000)')) AS Data2
FROM (
SELECT ID,CAST('<S>' + REPLACE(TablesData, ',', '</S><S>') + '</S>' AS XML) AS TablesData
FROM cte
) AS A
CROSS APPLY TablesData.nodes('/S') AS Split(a)
)DT
WHERE dt.Data2 <>0
)
SELECT DISTINCT ID
,STUFF((
SELECT ', ' + CAST(TablesData AS VARCHAR(50))
FROM Final i
WHERE i.ID = o.ID
FOR XML PATH('')
), 1, 1, '') AS ColumnsWith#ValuesOnly
FROM Final o
ORDER BY 1 ASC
OutPut
ID ColumnsWith#ValuesOnly
---------------------------
1 #2345, #111111, #5656
2 #5923, #010101, #4
3 #5823, #9333
4 #3555, #5789, #9000, #4568

Answer 4

The best way is to use this script below:
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#TempTable') IS NOT NULL
Drop table #TempTable
CREATE TABLE [dbo].#TempTable(
[ID] [int] NOT NULL,
[Value] [varchar](1000) NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
INSERT [dbo].#TempTable ([ID], [Value]) VALUES (1, N'#2345 Changed by Mark #111111,767677,33333,#5656 vbvb')
GO
INSERT [dbo].#TempTable ([ID], [Value]) VALUES (2, N'Paul changed ticket number #5923,5555555 464646 #010101,5555544rrr,wwww AND #4 ')
GO
INSERT [dbo].#TempTable ([ID], [Value]) VALUES (3, N'Someone changed ticket number #5823 and #9333,7777')
GO
INSERT [dbo].#TempTable ([ID], [Value]) VALUES (4, N'#3555 is missing from the list, can only see #5789, #9000 and #4568')
GO
;WITH cte
AS
(
SELECT ID,Split.a.value('.', 'VARCHAR(1000)') AS TablesData
FROM (
SELECT ID,CAST('<S>' + REPLACE(Value, ' ', '</S><S>') + '</S>' AS XML) AS TablesData
FROM #TempTable
) AS A
CROSS APPLY TablesData.nodes('/S') AS Split(a)
)
,Final
AS
(
SELECT ID,TablesData FROM
(
SELECT ID, Split.a.value('.', 'VARCHAR(1000)') AS TablesData,CHARINDEX('#',Split.a.value('.', 'VARCHAR(1000)')) AS Data2
FROM (
SELECT ID,CAST('<S>' + REPLACE(TablesData, ',', '</S><S>') + '</S>' AS XML) AS TablesData
FROM cte
) AS A
CROSS APPLY TablesData.nodes('/S') AS Split(a)
)DT
WHERE dt.Data2 <>0
)
SELECT DISTINCT ID
,STUFF((
SELECT ', ' + CAST(TablesData AS VARCHAR(50))
FROM Final i
WHERE i.ID = o.ID
FOR XML PATH('')
), 1, 1, '') AS ColumnsWith#ValuesOnly
FROM Final o
ORDER BY 1 ASC