Related
SELECT REPLACE('<strong>100</strong><b>.00 GB', '%^(^-?\d*\.{0,1}\d+$)%', '');
I want to replace any markup between two parts of the number with above regex, but it does not seem to work. I'm not sure if it is regex syntax that's wrong because I tried simpler one such as '%[^0-9]%' just to test but it didn't work either. Does anyone know how can I achieve this?
You can use PATINDEX
to find the first index of the pattern (string's) occurrence. Then use STUFF to stuff another string into the pattern(string) matched.
Loop through each row. Replace each illegal characters with what you want. In your case replace non numeric with blank. The inner loop is if you have more than one illegal character in a current cell that of the loop.
DECLARE #counter int
SET #counter = 0
WHILE(#counter < (SELECT MAX(ID_COLUMN) FROM Table))
BEGIN
WHILE 1 = 1
BEGIN
DECLARE #RetVal varchar(50)
SET #RetVal = (SELECT Column = STUFF(Column, PATINDEX('%[^0-9.]%', Column),1, '')
FROM Table
WHERE ID_COLUMN = #counter)
IF(#RetVal IS NOT NULL)
UPDATE Table SET
Column = #RetVal
WHERE ID_COLUMN = #counter
ELSE
break
END
SET #counter = #counter + 1
END
Caution: This is slow though! Having a varchar column may impact. So using LTRIM RTRIM may help a bit. Regardless, it is slow.
Credit goes to this StackOverFlow answer.
EDIT
Credit also goes to #srutzky
Edit (by #Tmdean)
Instead of doing one row at a time, this answer can be adapted to a more set-based solution. It still iterates the max of the number of non-numeric characters in a single row, so it's not ideal, but I think it should be acceptable in most situations.
WHILE 1 = 1 BEGIN
WITH q AS
(SELECT ID_Column, PATINDEX('%[^0-9.]%', Column) AS n
FROM Table)
UPDATE Table
SET Column = STUFF(Column, q.n, 1, '')
FROM q
WHERE Table.ID_Column = q.ID_Column AND q.n != 0;
IF ##ROWCOUNT = 0 BREAK;
END;
You can also improve efficiency quite a lot if you maintain a bit column in the table that indicates whether the field has been scrubbed yet. (NULL represents "Unknown" in my example and should be the column default.)
DECLARE #done bit = 0;
WHILE #done = 0 BEGIN
WITH q AS
(SELECT ID_Column, PATINDEX('%[^0-9.]%', Column) AS n
FROM Table
WHERE COALESCE(Scrubbed_Column, 0) = 0)
UPDATE Table
SET Column = STUFF(Column, q.n, 1, ''),
Scrubbed_Column = 0
FROM q
WHERE Table.ID_Column = q.ID_Column AND q.n != 0;
IF ##ROWCOUNT = 0 SET #done = 1;
-- if Scrubbed_Column is still NULL, then the PATINDEX
-- must have given 0
UPDATE table
SET Scrubbed_Column = CASE
WHEN Scrubbed_Column IS NULL THEN 1
ELSE NULLIF(Scrubbed_Column, 0)
END;
END;
If you don't want to change your schema, this is easy to adapt to store intermediate results in a table valued variable which gets applied to the actual table at the end.
Instead of stripping out the found character by its sole position, using Replace(Column, BadFoundCharacter, '') could be substantially faster. Additionally, instead of just replacing the one bad character found next in each column, this replaces all those found.
WHILE 1 = 1 BEGIN
UPDATE dbo.YourTable
SET Column = Replace(Column, Substring(Column, PatIndex('%[^0-9.-]%', Column), 1), '')
WHERE Column LIKE '%[^0-9.-]%'
If ##RowCount = 0 BREAK;
END;
I am convinced this will work better than the accepted answer, if only because it does fewer operations. There are other ways that might also be faster, but I don't have time to explore those right now.
In a general sense, SQL Server does not support regular expressions and you cannot use them in the native T-SQL code.
You could write a CLR function to do that. See here, for example.
For those looking for a performant and easy solution and are willing to enable CLR:
CREATE database TestSQLFunctions
go
use TestSQLFunctions
go
ALTER database TestSQLFunctions set trustworthy on
EXEC sp_configure 'clr enabled', 1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
go
CREATE ASSEMBLY [SQLFunctions]
AUTHORIZATION [dbo]
FROM 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
WITH PERMISSION_SET = SAFE
go
CREATE FUNCTION RegexReplace(
#input nvarchar(max),
#pattern nvarchar(max),
#replacement nvarchar(max)
) RETURNS nvarchar (max)
AS EXTERNAL NAME SQLFunctions.[SQLFunctions.Regex].Replace;
go
-- outputs This is a test
SELECT dbo.RegexReplace('This is a test 12345','[0-9]','')
Content of the DLL:
I stumbled across this post looking for something else but thought I'd mention a solution I use which is far more efficient - and really should be the default implementation of any function when used with a set based query - which is to use a cross applied table function. Seems the topic is still active so hopefully this is useful to someone.
Example runtime on a few of the answers so far based on running recursive set based queries or scalar function, based on 1m rows test set removing the chars from a random newid, ranges from 34s to 2m05s for the WHILE loop examples and from 1m3s to {forever} for the function examples.
Using a table function with cross apply achieves the same goal in 10s. You may need to adjust it to suit your needs such as the max length it handles.
Function:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[RemoveChars](#InputUnit VARCHAR(40))
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
WITH Numbers_prep(Number) AS
(
SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1
)
,Numbers(Number) AS
(
SELECT TOP (ISNULL(LEN(#InputUnit),0))
row_number() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL))
FROM Numbers_prep a
CROSS JOIN Numbers_prep b
)
SELECT
OutputUnit
FROM
(
SELECT
substring(#InputUnit,Number,1)
FROM Numbers
WHERE substring(#InputUnit,Number,1) like '%[0-9]%'
ORDER BY Number
FOR XML PATH('')
) Sub(OutputUnit)
)
Usage:
UPDATE t
SET column = o.OutputUnit
FROM ##t t
CROSS APPLY [dbo].[RemoveChars](t.column) o
Here is a function I wrote to accomplish this based off of the previous answers.
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.RepetitiveReplace
(
#P_String VARCHAR(MAX),
#P_Pattern VARCHAR(MAX),
#P_ReplaceString VARCHAR(MAX),
#P_ReplaceLength INT = 1
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
BEGIN
DECLARE #Index INT;
-- Get starting point of pattern
SET #Index = PATINDEX(#P_Pattern, #P_String);
while #Index > 0
begin
--replace matching charactger at index
SET #P_String = STUFF(#P_String, PATINDEX(#P_Pattern, #P_String), #P_ReplaceLength, #P_ReplaceString);
SET #Index = PATINDEX(#P_Pattern, #P_String);
end
RETURN #P_String;
END;
[Gist][1]
[1]: https://gist.github.com/jkdba/ca13fe8f2a9855c4bdbfd0a5d3dfcda2
Edit:
Originally I had a recursive function here which does not play well with sql server as it has a 32 nesting level limit which would result in an error like the below any time you attempt to make 32+ replacements with the function. Instead of trying to make a server level change to allow more nesting (which could be dangerous like allow never ending loops) switching to a while loop makes a lot more sense.
Maximum stored procedure, function, trigger, or view nesting level exceeded (limit 32).
Wrapping the solution inside a SQL function could be useful if you want to reuse it.
I'm even doing it at the cell level, that's why I'm putting this as a different answer:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnReplaceInvalidChars] (#string VARCHAR(300))
RETURNS VARCHAR(300)
BEGIN
DECLARE #str VARCHAR(300) = #string;
DECLARE #Pattern VARCHAR (20) = '%[^a-zA-Z0-9]%';
DECLARE #Len INT;
SELECT #Len = LEN(#String);
WHILE #Len > 0
BEGIN
SET #Len = #Len - 1;
IF (PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str) > 0)
BEGIN
SELECT #str = STUFF(#str, PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str),1,'');
END
ELSE
BEGIN
BREAK;
END
END
RETURN #str
END
A more speedy approach for large strings would look something like this:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnReplaceInvalidChars] (#string VARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
BEGIN
DECLARE #str VARCHAR(MAX) = #string;
DECLARE #Pattern VARCHAR (MAX) = '%[^a-zA-Z0-9]%';
WHILE PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str) > 0
BEGIN
SELECT #str = STUFF(#str, PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str),1,'');
END
RETURN #str
END
I've created this function to clean up a string that contained non numeric characters in a time field. The time contained question marks when they did not added the minutes, something like this 20:??. Function loops through each character and replaces the ? with a 0 :
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[CleanTime]
(
-- Add the parameters for the function here
#intime nvarchar(10)
)
RETURNS nvarchar(5)
AS
BEGIN
-- Declare the return variable here
DECLARE #ResultVar nvarchar(5)
DECLARE #char char(1)
-- Add the T-SQL statements to compute the return value here
DECLARE #i int = 1
WHILE #i <= LEN(#intime)
BEGIN
SELECT #char = CASE WHEN substring(#intime,#i,1) like '%[0-9:]%' THEN substring(#intime,#i,1) ELSE '0' END
SELECT #ResultVar = concat(#ResultVar,#char)
set #i = #i + 1
END;
-- Return the result of the function
RETURN #ResultVar
END
I think this solution is faster and simple. I use always CTE/recursive because WHILE is so slow on SQL Server.
I use it in projects I work with and large databases.
/*
Function: dbo.kSql_ReplaceRegExp
Create Date: 20.02.2021
Author: Karcan Ozbal
Description: The given string value will be replaced according to the given regexp/pattern.
Parameter(s): #Value : Value/Text to REPLACE.
#RegExp : The regexp/pattern to be used for REPLACE operation.
Usage: select dbo.kSql_ReplaceRegExp('2T3EST5','%[0-9]%')
Output: 'TEST'
*/
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[kSql_ReplaceRegExp](
#Value nvarchar(max),
#RegExp nvarchar(50)
)
RETURNS nvarchar(max)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #Result nvarchar(max)
;WITH CTE AS (
SELECT NUM = 1, VALUE = #Value, IDX = PATINDEX(#RegExp, #Value)
UNION ALL
SELECT NUM + 1, VALUE = REPLACE(VALUE, SUBSTRING(VALUE,IDX,1),''), IDX = PATINDEX(#RegExp, REPLACE(VALUE, SUBSTRING(VALUE,IDX,1),''))
FROM CTE
WHERE IDX > 0
)
SELECT TOP(1) #Result = VALUE
FROM CTE
ORDER BY NUM DESC
OPTION (maxrecursion 0)
RETURN #Result
END
If you are doing this just for a parameter coming into a Stored Procedure, you can use the following:
declare #badIndex int
set #badIndex = PatIndex('%[^0-9]%', #Param)
while #badIndex > 0
set #Param = Replace(#Param, Substring(#Param, #badIndex, 1), '')
set #badIndex = PatIndex('%[^0-9]%', #Param)
I thought this was clearer:
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[func_ReplaceChars](
#Value nvarchar(max),
#Chars nvarchar(50)
)
RETURNS nvarchar(max)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #cLen int = len(#Chars);
DECLARE #curChar int = 0;
WHILE #curChar<#cLen
BEGIN
set #Value = replace(#Value,substring(#Chars,#curChar,1),'');
set #curChar = #curChar + 1;
END;
RETURN #Value
END
I'm using this code similar to several codes above:
DROP FUNCTION [dbo].[fnCleanString]
GO
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnCleanString] (#input VARCHAR(max), #Pattern
VARCHAR (20))
RETURNS VARCHAR(max)
BEGIN
DECLARE #str VARCHAR(max) = #input;
DECLARE #Len INT;
DECLARE #INDEX INT;
SELECT #Len = LEN(#input);
WHILE #Len > 0
BEGIN
SET #INDEX = PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str);
IF (#INDEX > 0)
BEGIN
SET #str=REPLACE(#str,SUBSTRING(#str,#INDEX, 1), '');
END
ELSE
BEGIN
BREAK;
END
END
RETURN #str
END
You can use it like this:
SELECT CleanName = dbo.[fnCleanString](Name, '%[0-9]%') from YourTable
I think a simpler and faster approach is iterate by each character of the alphabet:
DECLARE #i int
SET #i = 0
WHILE(#i < 256)
BEGIN
IF char(#i) NOT IN ('0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '.')
UPDATE Table SET Column = replace(Column, char(#i), '')
SET #i = #i + 1
END
I wrote this SQL in a stored procedure but not working,
declare #tableName varchar(max) = 'TblTest'
declare #col1Name varchar(max) = 'VALUE1'
declare #col2Name varchar(max) = 'VALUE2'
declare #value1 varchar(max)
declare #value2 varchar(200)
execute('Select TOP 1 #value1='+#col1Name+', #value2='+#col2Name+' From '+ #tableName +' Where ID = 61')
select #value1
execute('Select TOP 1 #value1=VALUE1, #value2=VALUE2 From TblTest Where ID = 61')
This SQL throws this error:
Must declare the scalar variable "#value1".
I am generating the SQL dynamically and I want to get value in a variable. What should I do?
The reason you are getting the DECLARE error from your dynamic statement is because dynamic statements are handled in separate batches, which boils down to a matter of scope. While there may be a more formal definition of the scopes available in SQL Server, I've found it sufficient to generally keep the following three in mind, ordered from highest availability to lowest availability:
Global:
Objects that are available server-wide, such as temporary tables created with a double hash/pound sign ( ##GLOBALTABLE, however you like to call # ). Be very wary of global objects, just as you would with any application, SQL Server or otherwise; these types of things are generally best avoided altogether. What I'm essentially saying is to keep this scope in mind specifically as a reminder to stay out of it.
IF ( OBJECT_ID( 'tempdb.dbo.##GlobalTable' ) IS NULL )
BEGIN
CREATE TABLE ##GlobalTable
(
Val BIT
);
INSERT INTO ##GlobalTable ( Val )
VALUES ( 1 );
END;
GO
-- This table may now be accessed by any connection in any database,
-- assuming the caller has sufficient privileges to do so, of course.
Session:
Objects which are reference locked to a specific spid. Off the top of my head, the only type of session object I can think of is a normal temporary table, defined like #Table. Being in session scope essentially means that after the batch ( terminated by GO ) completes, references to this object will continue to resolve successfully. These are technically accessible by other sessions, but it would be somewhat of a feat do to so programmatically as they get sort of randomized names in tempdb and accessing them is a bit of a pain in the ass anyway.
-- Start of session;
-- Start of batch;
IF ( OBJECT_ID( 'tempdb.dbo.#t_Test' ) IS NULL )
BEGIN
CREATE TABLE #t_Test
(
Val BIT
);
INSERT INTO #t_Test ( Val )
VALUES ( 1 );
END;
GO
-- End of batch;
-- Start of batch;
SELECT *
FROM #t_Test;
GO
-- End of batch;
Opening a new session ( a connection with a separate spid ), the second batch above would fail, as that session would be unable to resolve the #t_Test object name.
Batch:
Normal variables, such as your #value1 and #value2, are scoped only for the batch in which they are declared. Unlike #Temp tables, as soon as your query block hits a GO, those variables stop being available to the session. This is the scope level which is generating your error.
-- Start of session;
-- Start of batch;
DECLARE #test BIT = 1;
PRINT #test;
GO
-- End of batch;
-- Start of batch;
PRINT #Test; -- Msg 137, Level 15, State 2, Line 2
-- Must declare the scalar variable "#Test".
GO
-- End of batch;
Okay, so what?
What is happening here with your dynamic statement is that the EXECUTE() command effectively evaluates as a separate batch, without breaking the batch you executed it from. EXECUTE() is good and all, but since the introduction of sp_executesql(), I use the former only in the most simple of instances ( explicitly, when there is very little "dynamic" element of my statements at all, primarily to "trick" otherwise unaccommodating DDL CREATE statements to run in the middle of other batches ). #AaronBertrand's answer above is similar and will be similar in performance to the following, leveraging the function of the optimizer when evaluating dynamic statements, but I thought it might be worthwhile to expand on the #param, well, parameter.
IF NOT EXISTS ( SELECT 1
FROM sys.objects
WHERE name = 'TblTest'
AND type = 'U' )
BEGIN
--DROP TABLE dbo.TblTest;
CREATE TABLE dbo.TblTest
(
ID INTEGER,
VALUE1 VARCHAR( 1 ),
VALUE2 VARCHAR( 1 )
);
INSERT INTO dbo.TblTest ( ID, VALUE1, VALUE2 )
VALUES ( 61, 'A', 'B' );
END;
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE #SQL NVARCHAR( MAX ),
#PRM NVARCHAR( MAX ),
#value1 VARCHAR( MAX ),
#value2 VARCHAR( 200 ),
#Table VARCHAR( 32 ),
#ID INTEGER;
SET #Table = 'TblTest';
SET #ID = 61;
SET #PRM = '
#_ID INTEGER,
#_value1 VARCHAR( MAX ) OUT,
#_value2 VARCHAR( 200 ) OUT';
SET #SQL = '
SELECT #_value1 = VALUE1,
#_value2 = VALUE2
FROM dbo.[' + REPLACE( #Table, '''', '' ) + ']
WHERE ID = #_ID;';
EXECUTE dbo.sp_executesql #statement = #SQL, #param = #PRM,
#_ID = #ID, #_value1 = #value1 OUT, #_value2 = #value2 OUT;
PRINT #value1 + ' ' + #value2;
SET NOCOUNT OFF;
Declare #v1 varchar(max), #v2 varchar(200);
Declare #sql nvarchar(max);
Set #sql = N'SELECT #v1 = value1, #v2 = value2
FROM dbo.TblTest -- always use schema
WHERE ID = 61;';
EXEC sp_executesql #sql,
N'#v1 varchar(max) output, #v2 varchar(200) output',
#v1 output, #v2 output;
You should also pass your input, like wherever 61 comes from, as proper parameters (but you won't be able to pass table and column names that way).
Here is a simple example :
Create or alter PROCEDURE getPersonCountByLastName (
#lastName varchar(20),
#count int OUTPUT
)
As
Begin
select #count = count(personSid) from Person where lastName like #lastName
End;
Execute below statements in one batch (by selecting all)
1. Declare #count int
2. Exec getPersonCountByLastName kumar, #count output
3. Select #count
When i tried to execute statements 1,2,3 individually, I had the same error.
But when executed them all at one time, it worked fine.
The reason is that SQL executes declare, exec statements in different sessions.
Open to further corrections.
This will occur in SQL Server as well if you don't run all of the statements at once. If you are highlighting a set of statements and executing the following:
DECLARE #LoopVar INT
SET #LoopVar = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SomeTable)
And then try to highlight another set of statements such as:
PRINT 'LoopVar is: ' + CONVERT(NVARCHAR(255), #LoopVar)
You will receive this error.
-- CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE
ALTER PROCEDURE out (
#age INT,
#salary INT OUTPUT)
AS
BEGIN
SELECT #salary = (SELECT SALARY FROM new_testing where AGE = #age ORDER BY AGE OFFSET 0 ROWS FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY);
END
-----------------DECLARE THE OUTPUT VARIABLE---------------------------------
DECLARE #test INT
---------------------THEN EXECUTE THE QUERY---------------------------------
EXECUTE out 25 , #salary = #test OUTPUT
print #test
-------------------same output obtain without procedure-------------------------------------------
SELECT * FROM new_testing where AGE = 25 ORDER BY AGE OFFSET 0 ROWS FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY
SELECT REPLACE('<strong>100</strong><b>.00 GB', '%^(^-?\d*\.{0,1}\d+$)%', '');
I want to replace any markup between two parts of the number with above regex, but it does not seem to work. I'm not sure if it is regex syntax that's wrong because I tried simpler one such as '%[^0-9]%' just to test but it didn't work either. Does anyone know how can I achieve this?
You can use PATINDEX
to find the first index of the pattern (string's) occurrence. Then use STUFF to stuff another string into the pattern(string) matched.
Loop through each row. Replace each illegal characters with what you want. In your case replace non numeric with blank. The inner loop is if you have more than one illegal character in a current cell that of the loop.
DECLARE #counter int
SET #counter = 0
WHILE(#counter < (SELECT MAX(ID_COLUMN) FROM Table))
BEGIN
WHILE 1 = 1
BEGIN
DECLARE #RetVal varchar(50)
SET #RetVal = (SELECT Column = STUFF(Column, PATINDEX('%[^0-9.]%', Column),1, '')
FROM Table
WHERE ID_COLUMN = #counter)
IF(#RetVal IS NOT NULL)
UPDATE Table SET
Column = #RetVal
WHERE ID_COLUMN = #counter
ELSE
break
END
SET #counter = #counter + 1
END
Caution: This is slow though! Having a varchar column may impact. So using LTRIM RTRIM may help a bit. Regardless, it is slow.
Credit goes to this StackOverFlow answer.
EDIT
Credit also goes to #srutzky
Edit (by #Tmdean)
Instead of doing one row at a time, this answer can be adapted to a more set-based solution. It still iterates the max of the number of non-numeric characters in a single row, so it's not ideal, but I think it should be acceptable in most situations.
WHILE 1 = 1 BEGIN
WITH q AS
(SELECT ID_Column, PATINDEX('%[^0-9.]%', Column) AS n
FROM Table)
UPDATE Table
SET Column = STUFF(Column, q.n, 1, '')
FROM q
WHERE Table.ID_Column = q.ID_Column AND q.n != 0;
IF ##ROWCOUNT = 0 BREAK;
END;
You can also improve efficiency quite a lot if you maintain a bit column in the table that indicates whether the field has been scrubbed yet. (NULL represents "Unknown" in my example and should be the column default.)
DECLARE #done bit = 0;
WHILE #done = 0 BEGIN
WITH q AS
(SELECT ID_Column, PATINDEX('%[^0-9.]%', Column) AS n
FROM Table
WHERE COALESCE(Scrubbed_Column, 0) = 0)
UPDATE Table
SET Column = STUFF(Column, q.n, 1, ''),
Scrubbed_Column = 0
FROM q
WHERE Table.ID_Column = q.ID_Column AND q.n != 0;
IF ##ROWCOUNT = 0 SET #done = 1;
-- if Scrubbed_Column is still NULL, then the PATINDEX
-- must have given 0
UPDATE table
SET Scrubbed_Column = CASE
WHEN Scrubbed_Column IS NULL THEN 1
ELSE NULLIF(Scrubbed_Column, 0)
END;
END;
If you don't want to change your schema, this is easy to adapt to store intermediate results in a table valued variable which gets applied to the actual table at the end.
Instead of stripping out the found character by its sole position, using Replace(Column, BadFoundCharacter, '') could be substantially faster. Additionally, instead of just replacing the one bad character found next in each column, this replaces all those found.
WHILE 1 = 1 BEGIN
UPDATE dbo.YourTable
SET Column = Replace(Column, Substring(Column, PatIndex('%[^0-9.-]%', Column), 1), '')
WHERE Column LIKE '%[^0-9.-]%'
If ##RowCount = 0 BREAK;
END;
I am convinced this will work better than the accepted answer, if only because it does fewer operations. There are other ways that might also be faster, but I don't have time to explore those right now.
In a general sense, SQL Server does not support regular expressions and you cannot use them in the native T-SQL code.
You could write a CLR function to do that. See here, for example.
For those looking for a performant and easy solution and are willing to enable CLR:
CREATE database TestSQLFunctions
go
use TestSQLFunctions
go
ALTER database TestSQLFunctions set trustworthy on
EXEC sp_configure 'clr enabled', 1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
go
CREATE ASSEMBLY [SQLFunctions]
AUTHORIZATION [dbo]
FROM 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25002000100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001001000000018000080000000000000000000000000000001000100000030000080000000000000000000000000000001000000000048000000584000003C03000000000000000000003C0334000000560053005F00560045005200530049004F004E005F0049004E0046004F0000000000BD04EFFE00000100000001000000000000000100000000003F000000000000000400000002000000000000000000000000000000440000000100560061007200460069006C00650049006E0066006F00000000002400040000005400720061006E0073006C006100740069006F006E00000000000000B0049C020000010053007400720069006E006700460069006C00650049006E0066006F0000007802000001003000300030003000300034006200300000001A000100010043006F006D006D0065006E007400730000000000000022000100010043006F006D00700061006E0079004E0061006D006500000000000000000042000D000100460069006C0065004400650073006300720069007000740069006F006E0000000000530051004C00460075006E006300740069006F006E00730000000000300008000100460069006C006500560065007200730069006F006E000000000031002E0030002E0030002E003000000042001100010049006E007400650072006E0061006C004E0061006D0065000000530051004C00460075006E006300740069006F006E0073002E0064006C006C00000000004800120001004C006500670061006C0043006F007000790072006900670068007400000043006F0070007900720069006700680074002000A90020002000320030003200300000002A00010001004C006500670061006C00540072006100640065006D00610072006B00730000000000000000004A00110001004F0072006900670069006E0061006C00460069006C0065006E0061006D0065000000530051004C00460075006E006300740069006F006E0073002E0064006C006C00000000003A000D000100500072006F0064007500630074004E0061006D00650000000000530051004C00460075006E006300740069006F006E00730000000000340008000100500072006F006400750063007400560065007200730069006F006E00000031002E0030002E0030002E003000000038000800010041007300730065006D0062006C0079002000560065007200730069006F006E00000031002E0030002E0030002E0030000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002000000C000000C43700000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
WITH PERMISSION_SET = SAFE
go
CREATE FUNCTION RegexReplace(
#input nvarchar(max),
#pattern nvarchar(max),
#replacement nvarchar(max)
) RETURNS nvarchar (max)
AS EXTERNAL NAME SQLFunctions.[SQLFunctions.Regex].Replace;
go
-- outputs This is a test
SELECT dbo.RegexReplace('This is a test 12345','[0-9]','')
Content of the DLL:
I stumbled across this post looking for something else but thought I'd mention a solution I use which is far more efficient - and really should be the default implementation of any function when used with a set based query - which is to use a cross applied table function. Seems the topic is still active so hopefully this is useful to someone.
Example runtime on a few of the answers so far based on running recursive set based queries or scalar function, based on 1m rows test set removing the chars from a random newid, ranges from 34s to 2m05s for the WHILE loop examples and from 1m3s to {forever} for the function examples.
Using a table function with cross apply achieves the same goal in 10s. You may need to adjust it to suit your needs such as the max length it handles.
Function:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[RemoveChars](#InputUnit VARCHAR(40))
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
WITH Numbers_prep(Number) AS
(
SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1
)
,Numbers(Number) AS
(
SELECT TOP (ISNULL(LEN(#InputUnit),0))
row_number() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL))
FROM Numbers_prep a
CROSS JOIN Numbers_prep b
)
SELECT
OutputUnit
FROM
(
SELECT
substring(#InputUnit,Number,1)
FROM Numbers
WHERE substring(#InputUnit,Number,1) like '%[0-9]%'
ORDER BY Number
FOR XML PATH('')
) Sub(OutputUnit)
)
Usage:
UPDATE t
SET column = o.OutputUnit
FROM ##t t
CROSS APPLY [dbo].[RemoveChars](t.column) o
Here is a function I wrote to accomplish this based off of the previous answers.
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.RepetitiveReplace
(
#P_String VARCHAR(MAX),
#P_Pattern VARCHAR(MAX),
#P_ReplaceString VARCHAR(MAX),
#P_ReplaceLength INT = 1
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
BEGIN
DECLARE #Index INT;
-- Get starting point of pattern
SET #Index = PATINDEX(#P_Pattern, #P_String);
while #Index > 0
begin
--replace matching charactger at index
SET #P_String = STUFF(#P_String, PATINDEX(#P_Pattern, #P_String), #P_ReplaceLength, #P_ReplaceString);
SET #Index = PATINDEX(#P_Pattern, #P_String);
end
RETURN #P_String;
END;
[Gist][1]
[1]: https://gist.github.com/jkdba/ca13fe8f2a9855c4bdbfd0a5d3dfcda2
Edit:
Originally I had a recursive function here which does not play well with sql server as it has a 32 nesting level limit which would result in an error like the below any time you attempt to make 32+ replacements with the function. Instead of trying to make a server level change to allow more nesting (which could be dangerous like allow never ending loops) switching to a while loop makes a lot more sense.
Maximum stored procedure, function, trigger, or view nesting level exceeded (limit 32).
Wrapping the solution inside a SQL function could be useful if you want to reuse it.
I'm even doing it at the cell level, that's why I'm putting this as a different answer:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnReplaceInvalidChars] (#string VARCHAR(300))
RETURNS VARCHAR(300)
BEGIN
DECLARE #str VARCHAR(300) = #string;
DECLARE #Pattern VARCHAR (20) = '%[^a-zA-Z0-9]%';
DECLARE #Len INT;
SELECT #Len = LEN(#String);
WHILE #Len > 0
BEGIN
SET #Len = #Len - 1;
IF (PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str) > 0)
BEGIN
SELECT #str = STUFF(#str, PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str),1,'');
END
ELSE
BEGIN
BREAK;
END
END
RETURN #str
END
A more speedy approach for large strings would look something like this:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnReplaceInvalidChars] (#string VARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
BEGIN
DECLARE #str VARCHAR(MAX) = #string;
DECLARE #Pattern VARCHAR (MAX) = '%[^a-zA-Z0-9]%';
WHILE PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str) > 0
BEGIN
SELECT #str = STUFF(#str, PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str),1,'');
END
RETURN #str
END
I've created this function to clean up a string that contained non numeric characters in a time field. The time contained question marks when they did not added the minutes, something like this 20:??. Function loops through each character and replaces the ? with a 0 :
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[CleanTime]
(
-- Add the parameters for the function here
#intime nvarchar(10)
)
RETURNS nvarchar(5)
AS
BEGIN
-- Declare the return variable here
DECLARE #ResultVar nvarchar(5)
DECLARE #char char(1)
-- Add the T-SQL statements to compute the return value here
DECLARE #i int = 1
WHILE #i <= LEN(#intime)
BEGIN
SELECT #char = CASE WHEN substring(#intime,#i,1) like '%[0-9:]%' THEN substring(#intime,#i,1) ELSE '0' END
SELECT #ResultVar = concat(#ResultVar,#char)
set #i = #i + 1
END;
-- Return the result of the function
RETURN #ResultVar
END
I think this solution is faster and simple. I use always CTE/recursive because WHILE is so slow on SQL Server.
I use it in projects I work with and large databases.
/*
Function: dbo.kSql_ReplaceRegExp
Create Date: 20.02.2021
Author: Karcan Ozbal
Description: The given string value will be replaced according to the given regexp/pattern.
Parameter(s): #Value : Value/Text to REPLACE.
#RegExp : The regexp/pattern to be used for REPLACE operation.
Usage: select dbo.kSql_ReplaceRegExp('2T3EST5','%[0-9]%')
Output: 'TEST'
*/
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[kSql_ReplaceRegExp](
#Value nvarchar(max),
#RegExp nvarchar(50)
)
RETURNS nvarchar(max)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #Result nvarchar(max)
;WITH CTE AS (
SELECT NUM = 1, VALUE = #Value, IDX = PATINDEX(#RegExp, #Value)
UNION ALL
SELECT NUM + 1, VALUE = REPLACE(VALUE, SUBSTRING(VALUE,IDX,1),''), IDX = PATINDEX(#RegExp, REPLACE(VALUE, SUBSTRING(VALUE,IDX,1),''))
FROM CTE
WHERE IDX > 0
)
SELECT TOP(1) #Result = VALUE
FROM CTE
ORDER BY NUM DESC
OPTION (maxrecursion 0)
RETURN #Result
END
If you are doing this just for a parameter coming into a Stored Procedure, you can use the following:
declare #badIndex int
set #badIndex = PatIndex('%[^0-9]%', #Param)
while #badIndex > 0
set #Param = Replace(#Param, Substring(#Param, #badIndex, 1), '')
set #badIndex = PatIndex('%[^0-9]%', #Param)
I thought this was clearer:
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[func_ReplaceChars](
#Value nvarchar(max),
#Chars nvarchar(50)
)
RETURNS nvarchar(max)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #cLen int = len(#Chars);
DECLARE #curChar int = 0;
WHILE #curChar<#cLen
BEGIN
set #Value = replace(#Value,substring(#Chars,#curChar,1),'');
set #curChar = #curChar + 1;
END;
RETURN #Value
END
I'm using this code similar to several codes above:
DROP FUNCTION [dbo].[fnCleanString]
GO
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnCleanString] (#input VARCHAR(max), #Pattern
VARCHAR (20))
RETURNS VARCHAR(max)
BEGIN
DECLARE #str VARCHAR(max) = #input;
DECLARE #Len INT;
DECLARE #INDEX INT;
SELECT #Len = LEN(#input);
WHILE #Len > 0
BEGIN
SET #INDEX = PATINDEX(#Pattern,#str);
IF (#INDEX > 0)
BEGIN
SET #str=REPLACE(#str,SUBSTRING(#str,#INDEX, 1), '');
END
ELSE
BEGIN
BREAK;
END
END
RETURN #str
END
You can use it like this:
SELECT CleanName = dbo.[fnCleanString](Name, '%[0-9]%') from YourTable
I think a simpler and faster approach is iterate by each character of the alphabet:
DECLARE #i int
SET #i = 0
WHILE(#i < 256)
BEGIN
IF char(#i) NOT IN ('0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '.')
UPDATE Table SET Column = replace(Column, char(#i), '')
SET #i = #i + 1
END
I have a table of countries and their abbreviations with a column called code with the abbreviations and a column called name that contains the country names.
I need to iterate through a foreign address and look up each word until I find a match in the table (i.e. the country) and retrieve the abbreviation for a case statement.
This won't be done on all records, only certain ones that would be larger than a field of a 60 chars in a file I'm building.
So What I need to do is something to affect of:
SELECT
CASE WHEN address2 & foreign_address > 60
THEN split and iterate through '12345 MY SUPER LONG ADDRESS IN THE PHILIPPINES' and look up
each string until PHILIPPINES is matched in the country_codes table and 'PH' is returned
END
This is the best way I can think to handle this situation short of truncating the address which I don't want to do for obvious reasons. This also needs to be dynamic based on different addresses and countries.
My biggest challenge at this point is breaking up the string and doing a look up on each string fragment.
SELECT Addresses.foreign_address, Countries.Code
FROM Addresses, Countries
WHERE LEN(foreign_address) > 60
AND foreign_address LIKE '%' Countries.Name '%'
[Code] will contain the abbreviated code of the country that was matched.
Here's the relevant SQLFiddle (and code below in full):
CREATE TABLE Countries (Name varchar(128), Code varchar(2));
CREATE TABLE Addresses (foreign_address varchar(512));
INSERT INTO Countries(Name,Code) VALUES('PHILIPPINES', 'PH');
INSERT INTO Addresses(foreign_address)
VALUES('12345 MY SUPER LONG ADDRESS IN THE PHILIPPINES UNTIL PHILIPPINES IS MATCHED AND PH IS RETURNED');
SELECT Addresses.foreign_address, Countries.Code
FROM Addresses, Countries
WHERE LEN(foreign_address) > 60
AND foreign_address LIKE '%' + Countries.Name + '%'
Something like this, may be?
select l.abbr, a.id
from
lookup_table l, address_table a
where
charindex(l.country_name, a.address2 + a.foreign_address) > 0
and len( a.address2 + a.foreign_address) > 60
Not tested.
Edited for the SQL Server 2005 string concatenation operator.
You can use LIKE instead of breaking up by word:
declare #address2 varchar(128)
declare #foreign_address varchar(128)
set #address2 = '12345 MY SUPER LONG ADDRESS IN THE PHILIPPINES'
set #foreign_address = '123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890'
SELECT
CASE
WHEN len(#address2 + #foreign_address) > 60
AND (' ' + #address2 + ' ' + #foreign_address + ' ') like '% PHILIPPINES %'
THEN 'PH'
ELSE NULL
END
I am not advocating this style of programming in SQL Server, but this is how I would do what you asked to do. First, tokenize the string into single words in a table variable. Then opena a cursor on the table variable and loop through the words, calling break if we find a result from dbo.countries. Please note, loops are very inefficient in SQL Server. The UDF table function came from here: How to split a string in T-SQL?
-- Create the UDF
CREATE FUNCTION Splitfn(#String varchar(8000), #Delimiter char(1))
returns #temptable TABLE (items varchar(8000))
as
begin
declare #idx int
declare #slice varchar(8000)
select #idx = 1
if len(#String)<1 or #String is null return
while #idx!= 0
begin
set #idx = charindex(#Delimiter,#String)
if #idx!=0
set #slice = left(#String,#idx - 1)
else
set #slice = #String
if(len(#slice)>0)
insert into #temptable(Items) values(#slice)
set #String = right(#String,len(#String) - #idx)
if len(#String) = 0 break
end
return
end
go
-- Create the dbo.countries table so we can test our code later
create table dbo.countries (code char(2), name varchar(100))
go
-- Insert one record in dbo.countries so we can test our code later
insert into dbo.countries (code, name)
select 'PH', 'PHILIPPINES'
go
-- for one #String input, this is what I would do
declare #String varchar(1000) = '12345 MY SUPER LONG ADDRESS IN THE PHILIPPINES'
declare #CountryCode char(2) = ''
declare #done bit = 0x0
declare #word varchar(1000)
declare #words table (word varchar(250) primary key)
-- Break apart your #String into a table of records, only returning the DISTINCT values.
-- Join on the domain list so we can only process the ones that will return data in the CURSOR (eliminating excess looping)
insert into #words (word)
--
select distinct items as word
from dbo.Splitfn(#String, ' ') s
join dbo.countries c
on lower(c.name) = lower(s.items)
declare word_cursor CURSOR for
select word
from #words w
open word_cursor
fetch next from word_cursor into #word
while ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
begin
select #CountryCode = code
from dbo.countries
where name = #word
if ##trancount > 0
begin
break
end
fetch next from word_cursor into #word
end
-- clean up the cursor
close word_cursor
deallocate word_cursor
-- return the found CountryCode
select #CountryCode
I need to write a TSQL user defined function which will accept a string and return a number.
I will call the function like dbo.EvaluateExpression('10*4.5*0.5') should return the number 22.5
Can any one help me to write this function EvaluateExpression.
Currently I am using CLR function which I need to avoid.
Edit1
I know this can be done using stored procedure, but I want to call this function in some statements ex: select 10* dbo.EvaluateExpression('10*4.5*0.5')
Also I have around 400,000 formulas like this to be evaluated.
Edit2
I know we can do it using osql.exe inside function as explained here. But due to permission settings, I can not use this also.
I don't think that is possible in a user defined function.
You could do it in a stored procedure, like:
declare #calc varchar(max)
set #calc = '10*4.5*0.5'
declare #sql nvarchar(max)
declare #result float
set #sql = N'set #result = ' + #calc
exec sp_executesql #sql, N'#result float output', #result out
select #result
But dynamic SQL, like exec or sp_executesql, is not allowed in user defined functions.
Disclaimer: I'm the owner of the project Eval SQL.NET
For SQL 2012+, you can use Eval SQL.NET which can be run with SAFE Permission.
The performance is great (better than UDF) and honors operator precedence and parenthesis. In fact, almost all the C# language is supported.
You can also specify parameters to your formula.
-- SELECT 225.00
SELECT 10 * CAST(SQLNET::New('10*4.5*0.5').Eval() AS DECIMAL(18, 2))
-- SELECT 70
DECLARE #formula VARCHAR(50) = 'a+b*c'
SELECT 10 * SQLNET::New(#formula)
.Val('a', 1)
.Val('b', 2)
.Val('c', 3)
.EvalInt()
Use this Function, It will absolutely working.
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.EvaluateExpression(#list nvarchar(MAX))
RETURNS Decimal(10,2)
AS
BEGIN
Declare #Result Decimal(10,2)
set #Result=1
DECLARE #pos int,
#nextpos int,
#valuelen int
SELECT #pos = 0, #nextpos = 1
WHILE #nextpos > 0
BEGIN
SELECT #nextpos = charindex('*', #list, #pos + 1)
SELECT #valuelen = CASE WHEN #nextpos > 0
THEN #nextpos
ELSE len(#list) + 1
END - #pos - 1
Set #Result=#Result*convert(decimal(10,2),substring(#list, #pos + 1, #valuelen))
SELECT #pos = #nextpos
END
RETURN #Result
END
You Can use this
Select 10* dbo.EvaluateExpression('10*4.5*0.5')
You can use the SQL Stored procedure below to calculate the result of any formula with any number of variables:
I wrote in 2012 a solution which can evaluate any type of Mathematical formula using SQL SERVER. The solution can handle any formula with N variables :
I was asked to find a way to evaluate the value given by a Formula which is filled by the user.
The Formula contains mathematical operations (addition, multiplication, division and subtractions)
The parameters used to calculate the formula are stored in the SQL server DATA BASE.
The solution I found by myself was as follows:
Suppose I have n parameters used to calculate the formula, each of these parameters is stored in one row in one data table.
The data table containing the n rows to use in the formula is called tab_value
I have to store the n values found in n rows (in tab_values) in one single row in one new Table, using SQL cursor,
for that I create a new table called tab_formula
In the cursor, I will add a new column for each value, the column name will be Id1,Id2,Id3 etc.
Then I construct a SQL script containing the formula to evaluate the formula
Here after the complete script, I hope you find it useful, you are welcome to ask me about it.
The procedure uses as input:
-The formula
-A table containing the values used to calculate the formula
if exists(select 1 from sysobjects where name='usp_evaluate_formula' and xtype='p')
drop proc usp_evaluate_formula
go
create type type_tab as table(id int identity(1,1),val decimal(10,2))
go
create proc usp_evaluate_formula(#formula as nvarchar(100),#values as type_tab readonly)
as begin
declare #tab_values table (id int, val decimal(10,2))
insert into #tab_values(id,val) select * from #values
declare #id as int declare #val as decimal(10,2)
if not exists(select 1 from sysobjects where name ='tab_formula')
create table tab_formula(id int identity(1,1), formula nvarchar(1000))
if not exists(select 1 from tab_formula where formula=#formula)
insert into tab_formula(formula) values(#formula)
declare c cursor for select id,val from #tab_values
declare #script as nvarchar(4000)
open c
fetch c into #id,#val
while ##fetch_status=0
begin
set #script = 'if not exists(select 1 from syscolumns c inner join sysobjects o on c.id=o.id where o.name=''tab_formula'' and c.name=''id'+
convert(nvarchar(3),#id)+ ''')
alter table tab_formula add id'+convert(nvarchar(3),#id)+ ' decimal(10,2)'
print #script
exec(#script)
set #script='update tab_formula set id'+convert(nvarchar(3),#id)+'='+convert(nvarchar(10),#val)+' where formula='''+#formula+'''' print #script exec(#script) fetch c into #id,#val end close c deallocate c
set #script='select *,convert(decimal(10,2),'+#formula+') "Result" from tab_formula where formula='''+#formula+''''
print #script
exec(#script)
end
go
declare #mytab as type_tab
insert into #mytab(val) values(1.56),(1.5) ,(2.5) ,(32),(1.7) ,(3.3) ,(3.9)
exec usp_evaluate_formula'2*cos(id1)+cos(id2)+cos(id3)+3*cos(id4)+cos(id5)+cos(id6)+cos(id7)/2*cos(Id6)',#mytab
go
drop proc usp_evaluate_formula
drop type type_tab
drop table tab_formula