How to get MAX value of numeric values in varchar column - sql-server

I have a table with a nvarchar column. This column has values for example:
983
294
a343
a3546f
and so on.
I would like to take MAX of this values, but not as text but like from numerics. So in this example numerics are:
983
294
343
3546
And the MAX value is the last one - 3546. How to do this in TSQL on Microsoft SQL?

First install a regular expression function. This article has code you can cut/paste.
Then with RegexReplace (from that article) you can extract digits from a string:
dbo.RegexReplace( '.*?(\d+).*', myField, '$1' )
Then convert this string to a number:
CAST( dbo.RegexReplace( '.*?(\d+).*', myField, '$1' ) AS INT )
Then use this expression inside a MAX() function in a SELECT.

You can try to keep it simple without using Regular Expression
Here is the source
create table #t ( val varchar(100) )
insert #t select 983
insert #t select 294
insert #t select 'a343'
insert #t select 'a3546f';
GO
;with ValueRange as (
select val,
[from] = patindex('%[0-9]%', val),
[to] = case patindex('%[a-z]', val)
when 0 then len(val)
else patindex('%[a-z]', val) - patindex('%[0-9]%', val)
end
from #t
)
select substring(val, [from], [to]) as val
from ValueRange VR
order by cast(substring(val, [from], [to]) as int) desc

CAST() would do the trick, probably.
SELECT MAX(CAST(yourColumn AS int)) AS maxColumns FROM yourTable
Edit.
I didn't read the whole question, as it seems...
– Function to strip out non-numeric chars
ALTER FUNCTION dbo.UDF_ParseNumericChars
(
#string VARCHAR(8000)
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(8000)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #IncorrectCharLoc SMALLINT
–SET #IncorrectCharLoc = PATINDEX(’%[^0-9A-Za-z]%’, #string)
SET #IncorrectCharLoc = PATINDEX(’%[^0-9.]%’, #string)
WHILE #IncorrectCharLoc > 0
BEGIN
SET #string = STUFF(#string, #IncorrectCharLoc, 1, ”)
SET #IncorrectCharLoc = PATINDEX(’%[^0-9.]%’, #string)
END
SET #string = #string
RETURN #string
END
GO
I picked it from here. (I voted up the reg exp answer though)

you can write a function something like
create FUNCTION [dbo].[getFirstNumeric](
#s VARCHAR(50)
)
RETURNS int AS
BEGIN
set #s = substring(#s,patindex('%[0-9]%',#s),len(#s)-patindex('%[0-9]%',#s) + 1)
if patindex('%[^0-9]%',#s) = 0
return #s
set #s = substring(#s,1,patindex('%[^0-9]%',#s)-1)
return cast(#s as int)
end
and then call
select max(dbo.getFirstNumeric(yourColumn)) from yourTable
if you are using SQL Server 2005 or never you can also use the solution posted by Sung Meister

As far as I know you would need to create a process (or user defined function) to scrub the column, so that you can actually convert it to an INT or other appropriate datatype, then you can take the max of that.

By using user defined function parse the value to an int and then run the select.
SELECT MAX(dbo.parseVarcharToInt(column)) FROM table

SELECT dbo.RegexReplace('[^0-9]', '','a5453b',1, 1)
and RegexReplace installation like Jason Cohen said

This is an old question, I know - but to add to the knowledge base for others...
Assuming all your values have at least 1 number in them:
Select max(convert(int, SubString(VarName, PATINDEX('%[0-9]%',VarName), Len(VarName))))
from ATable

This is my simple answer. You can try it. But it works for fixed removable string value.
select max(cast(SUBSTRING(T.column,3,len(T.column)) as int)) from tablename T

Related

Searching for multiple patterns in a string in T-SQL

In t-sql my dilemma is that I have to parse a potentially long string (up to 500 characters) for any of over 230 possible values and remove them from the string for reporting purposes. These values are a column in another table and they're all upper case and 4 characters long with the exception of two that are 5 characters long.
Examples of these values are:
USFRI
PROME
AZCH
TXJS
NYDS
XVIV. . . . .
Example of string before:
"Offered to XVIV and USFRI as back ups. No response as of yet."
Example of string after:
"Offered to and as back ups. No response as of yet."
Pretty sure it will have to be a UDF but I'm unable to come up with anything other than stripping ALL the upper case characters out of the string with PATINDEX which is not the objective.
This is unavoidably cludgy but one way is to split your string into rows, once you have a set of words the rest is easy; Simply re-aggregate while ignoring the matching values*:
with t as (
select 'Offered to XVIV and USFRI as back ups. No response as of yet.' s
union select 'Another row AZCH and TXJS words.'
), v as (
select * from (values('USFRI'),('PROME'),('AZCH'),('TXJS'),('NYDS'),('XVIV'))v(v)
)
select t.s OriginalString, s.Removed
from t
cross apply (
select String_Agg(j.[value], ' ') within group(order by Convert(tinyint,j.[key])) Removed
from OpenJson(Concat('["',replace(s, ' ', '","'),'"]')) j
where not exists (select * from v where v.v = j.[value])
)s;
* Requires a fully-supported version of SQL Server.
build a function to do the cleaning of one sentence, then call that function from your query, something like this SELECT Col1, dbo.fn_ReplaceValue(Col1) AS cleanValue, * FROM MySentencesTable. Your fn_ReplaceValue will be something like the code below, you could also create the table variable outside the function and pass it as parameter to speed up the process, but this way is all self contained.
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
CREATE FUNCTION fn_ReplaceValue(#sentence VARCHAR(500))
RETURNS VARCHAR(500)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #ResultVar VARCHAR(500)
DECLARE #allValues TABLE (rowID int, sValues VARCHAR(15))
DECLARE #id INT = 0
DECLARE #ReplaceVal VARCHAR(10)
DECLARE #numberOfValues INT = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM MyValuesTable)
--Populate table variable with all values
INSERT #allValues
SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY MyValuesCol) AS rowID, MyValuesCol
FROM MyValuesTable
SET #ResultVar = #sentence
WHILE (#id <= #numberOfValues)
BEGIN
SET #id = #id + 1
SET #ReplaceVal = (SELECT sValue FROM #allValues WHERE rowID = #id)
SET #ResultVar = REPLACE(#ResultVar, #ReplaceVal, SPACE(0))
END
RETURN #ResultVar
END
GO
I suggest creating a table (either temporary or permanent), and loading these 230 string values into this table. Then use it in the following delete:
DELETE
FROM yourTable
WHERE col IN (SELECT col FROM tempTable);
If you just want to view your data sans these values, then use:
SELECT *
FROM yourTable
WHERE col NOT IN (SELECT col FROM tempTable);

Issue with patindex and unicode character '-'

I have a string called Dats which is either of the general appearence xxxx-nnnnn (where x is a character, and n is a number) or nnn-nnnnnn.
I want to return only the numbers.
For this I've tried:
SELECT Distinct dats,
Left(SubString(artikelnr, PatIndex('%[0-9.-]%', artikelnr), 8000), PatIndex('%[^0-9.-]%', SubString(artikelnr, PatIndex('%[0-9.-]%', artikelnr), 8000) + 'X')-1)
FROM ThatDatabase
It is almost what I want. It removes the regular characters x, but it does not remove the unicode character -. How can I remove this as well? And also, it seems rather ineffective to have two PatIndex functions for every row, is there a way to avoid this? (This will be used on a big database where the result of this Query will be used as keys).
EDIT: Updated as a new database sometimes contained additional -'s or . together with -.
DECLARE #T as table
(
dats nvarchar(10)
)
INSERT INTO #T VALUES
('111BWA30'),
('115-200-11')
('115-22.4-1')
('10.000.22')
('600F-FFF200')
I wasn't sure if you wanted the numbers before the - char as well, but if you do, here is one way to do it:
Create and populate sample table (Please save us this step in your future questions)
DECLARE #T as table
(
dats nvarchar(10)
)
INSERT INTO #T VALUES
('abcde-1234'),
('23-343')
The query:
SELECT dats,
case when patindex('%[^0-9]-[0-9]%', dats) > 0 then
right(dats, len(dats) - patindex('%-[0-9]%', dats))
else
stuff(dats, charindex('-', dats), 1, '')
end As NumbersOnly
FROM #T
Results:
dats NumbersOnly
abcde-1234 1234
23-343 23343
If you want the only the numbers to the right of the - char, it's simpler:
SELECT dats,
right(dats, len(dats) - patindex('%-[0-9]%', dats)) As RightNumbersOnly
FROM #T
Results:
dats RightNumbersOnly
abcde-1234 1234
23-343 343
If you know which characters you need to remove then use REPLACE function
DECLARE #T as table
(
dats nvarchar(100)
)
INSERT INTO #T
VALUES
('111BWA30'),
('115-200-11'),
('115-22.4-1'),
('10.000.22'),
('600F-FFF200')
SELECT REPLACE(REPLACE(dats, '.', ''), '-', '')
FROM #T

SQL Server : select all after specific character

How I can select
"ALT1" if value is "W61N03D20V0-WHIH-ALT1"
"ALT2" if for "W61N03D20V0-WHIH-ALT2"
"SW" for "W61N03D20V0-WHIH-SW"
"Default" for "W61N26D1YA1-VICU" (without prefix)
"Defailt" for "W61N27D21V2-AZTD"
In other words I'm looking for a way extract last part after second suffix, but if I have't second suffix - then default
Thanks for advice
Try it like this:
First you "split" the string on its minus signs with the XML trick.
Then you read the third node from you XML - voila!
CREATE TABLE #tbl(content VARCHAR(100));
INSERT INTO #tbl VALUES('W61N03D20V0-WHIH-ALT1')
,('W61N03D20V0-WHIH-SW')
,('W61N26D1YA1-VICU');
WITH SplittedAsXml AS
(
SELECT CAST('<x>' + REPLACE(content,'-','</x><x>') + '</x>' AS XML) AS Content
FROM #tbl
)
SELECT ISNULL(Content.value('/x[3]','varchar(max)'),'default') AS TheThirdPart
FROM SplittedAsXml;
DROP TABLE #tbl;
The result
ALT1
SW
default
Going this ways would also give you the chance to get the other parts in one go just querying /x[1] and /x[2] too
I did it using the built-in substring() function:
declare #str VARCHAR(40) = 'W61N03D20V0-WHIH-ALT1' -- also works for the other examples
declare #sep VARCHAR(1) = '-'
declare #middleToEnd VARCHAR(40) = substring(#str, charindex(#sep, #str) + 1, len(#str))
declare #pos INT = charindex(#sep, #middleToEnd)
declare #lastPart VARCHAR(40) =
CASE WHEN #pos = 0
THEN 'Default'
ELSE substring(#middleToEnd, #pos + 1, len(#middleToEnd))
END
select #lastPart
For best performance, you can solve it with this one-liner(calculation is one line)
SELECT
COALESCE(STUFF(col,1,NULLIF(CHARINDEX('-',col, CHARINDEX('-',col)+1), 0),''),'Default')
FROM (values
('W61N03D20V0-WHIH-ALT1'),('W61N03D20V0-WHIH-ALT2'),
('W61N03D20V0-WHIH-SW'),('W61N26D1YA1-VICU'),
('W61N27D21V2-AZTD')) x(col)
Result:
ALT1
ALT2
SW
Default
Default
If I understand what you are asking for, the following does what you need:
-- fake table
WITH SomeTable AS (
SELECT 'W61N03D20V0-WHIH-ALT1' AS Field1
UNION ALL
SELECT 'W61N03D20V0-WHIH-SW'
UNION ALL
SELECT 'W61N26D1YA1-VICU'
)
-- select
SELECT
CASE CHARINDEX('-WHIH-', Field1)
WHEN 0 THEN 'Default'
ELSE SUBSTRING(Field1, CHARINDEX('-WHIH-', Field1) + 6, LEN(Field1) - (CHARINDEX('-WHIH-', Field1) + 5))
END
FROM SomeTable
Use can use a CASE expression to check whether the string starts with W61N03D20V0-WHIH.
If it starts with it use a combination of RIGHT, REVERSE and CHARINDEX functions to get last part from the string, else Default.
Query
select case when [your_column_name] like 'W61N03D20V0-WHIH%'
then right([your_column_name], charindex('-', reverse([your_column_name]), 1) - 1)
else 'Default' end as new_column_name
from your_table_name;
SQl Fiddle demo

How can I complete this Excel function in SQL Server?

I have approximately 30,000 records where I need to split the Description field and so far I can only seem to achieve this in Excel. An example Description would be:
1USBCP 2RJ45C6 1DVI 1DP 3MD 3MLP HANDS
Below is my Excel function:
=TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE($G309," ",REPT(" ",LEN($G309))),((COLUMNS($G309:G309)-1)*LEN($G309))+1,LEN($G309)))
This is then dragged across ten Excel columns, and splits the description field at each space.
I have seen many questions asked about splitting a string in SQL but they only seem to cover one space, not multiple spaces.
There is no easy function in SQL server to split strings. At least I don't know it. I use usually some trick that I found somewhere in the Internet some time ago. I modified it to your example.
The trick is that first we try to figure out how many columns do we need. We can do it by checking how many empty strings we have in the string. The easiest way is lenght of string - lenght of string without empty string.
After that for each string we try to find start and end of each word by position. At the end we cut simply string by start and end position and assign to coulmns. The details are in the query. Have fun!
CREATE TABLE test(id int, data varchar(100))
INSERT INTO test VALUES (1,'1USBCP 2RJ45C6 1DVI 1DP 3MD 3MLP HANDS')
INSERT INTO test VALUES (2,'Shorter one')
DECLARE #pivot varchar(8000)
DECLARE #select varchar(8000)
SELECT
#pivot=coalesce(#pivot+',','')+'[col'+cast(number+1 as varchar(10))+']'
FROM
master..spt_values where type='p' and
number<=(SELECT max(len(data)-len(replace(data,',',''))) FROM test)
SELECT
#select='
select p.*
from (
select
id,substring(data, start+2, endPos-Start-2) as token,
''col''+cast(row_number() over(partition by id order by start) as varchar(10)) as n
from (
select
id, data, n as start, charindex('','',data,n+2) endPos
from (select number as n from master..spt_values where type=''p'') num
cross join
(
select
id, '' '' + data +'' '' as data
from
test
) m
where n < len(data)-1
and substring(odata,n+1,1) = '','') as data
) pvt
Pivot ( max(token)for n in ('+#pivot+'))p'
EXEC(#select)
Here you can find example in SQL Fiddle
I didn't notice that you want to get rid of multiple blank spaces.
To do it please create some function that preprare your data :
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.[fnRemoveExtraSpaces] (#Number AS varchar(1000))
Returns Varchar(1000)
As
Begin
Declare #n int -- Length of counter
Declare #old char(1)
Set #n = 1
--Begin Loop of field value
While #n <=Len (#Number)
BEGIN
If Substring(#Number, #n, 1) = ' ' AND #old = ' '
BEGIN
Select #Number = Stuff( #Number , #n , 1 , '' )
END
Else
BEGIN
SET #old = Substring(#Number, #n, 1)
Set #n = #n + 1
END
END
Return #number
END
After that use the new version that removes extra spaces.
DECLARE #pivot varchar(8000)
DECLARE #select varchar(8000)
SELECT
#pivot=coalesce(#pivot+',','')+'[col'+cast(number+1 as varchar(10))+']'
FROM
master..spt_values where type='p' and
number<=(SELECT max(len(dbo.fnRemoveExtraSpaces(data))-len(replace(dbo.fnRemoveExtraSpaces(data),' ',''))) FROM test)
SELECT
#select='
select p.*
from (
select
id,substring(data, start+2, endPos-Start-2) as token,
''col''+cast(row_number() over(partition by id order by start) as varchar(10)) as n
from (
select
id, data, n as start, charindex('' '',data,n+2) endPos
from (select number as n from master..spt_values where type=''p'') num
cross join
(
select
id, '' '' + dbo.fnRemoveExtraSpaces(data) +'' '' as data
from
test
) m
where n < len(data)-1
and substring(data,n+1,1) = '' '') as data
) pvt
Pivot ( max(token)for n in ('+#pivot+'))p'
EXEC(#select)
I am probably not understanding your question, but all that you are doing in that formula, can be done almost exactly the same in SQL. I see someone has already answered but to my mind, how can it be necessary to do all that when you can do this. I might be wrong. But here goes.
declare #test as varchar(100)
set #test='abcd1234567'
select right(#test,2)
, left(#test,2)
, len(#test)
, case when len(#test)%2>0
then left(right(#test,round(len(#test)/2,0)+1),1)
else left(right(#test,round(len(#test)/2,0)+1),2) end
Results
67 ab 11 2
So right, left, length and mid can all be achieved.
If the spaces are the "substring" dividers, then: I dont remember well the actual syntax for do-while inside selects of sql, neither have i actually done that per se, but I don't see why it should not be possible. If it doesn't work then you need a temporary table and if that does not work you need a cursor. The cursor would be an external loop around this one to fetch and process a single string at a time. Or you can do something more clever. I am just a novice.
declare #x varchar(1)
declare #n integer
declare #i integer
declare #str varchar(100) -- this is your description. Fetch it and assign it. if in a cursor just use column-name
set #x = null
set #n = 0
set #i = 0
while n < len(#str)
while NOT #x = " "
begin
set #x = left(right(#str,n),1)
n = n+1
end
--insert into or update #temptable blablabla here.
Use i and n to locate substring and then left(right()) it out. or you can SELECT it, but that is a messy procedure if the number of substrings are long. Continue with:
set i = n
set #str = right(#str, i) -- this includes the " ". left() it out at will.
end
Now, a final comment, there should perhaps be a third loop checking for if you are at the last "substring" because I see now this code will throw error when it gets to the end. or "add" an empty space at the end to #str, that will also work. But my time is up. This is a suggestion at least.

How to split a string after specific character in SQL Server and update this value to specific column

I have table with data 1/1 to 1/20 in one column. I want the value 1 to 20 i.e value after '/'(front slash) is updated into other column in same table in SQL Server.
Example:
Column has value 1/1,1/2,1/3...1/20
new Column value 1,2,3,..20
That is, I want to update this new column.
Try this:
UPDATE YourTable
SET Col2 = RIGHT(Col1,LEN(Col1)-CHARINDEX('/',Col1))
Please find the below query also split the string with delimeter.
Select Substring(#String1,0,CharIndex(#delimeter,#String1))
From: http://www.sql-server-helper.com/error-messages/msg-536.aspx
To use function LEFT if not all data is in the form '1/12' you need this in the second line above:
Set Col2 = LEFT(Col1, ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX('/', Col1) - 1, -1), LEN(Col1)))
SELECT SUBSTRING(ParentBGBU,0,CHARINDEX('-',ParentBGBU,0)) FROM dbo.tblHCMMaster;
I know this question is specific to sql server, but I'm using postgresql and came across this question, so for anybody else in a similar situation, there is the split_part(string text, delimiter text, field int) function.
Maybe something like this:
First some test data:
DECLARE #tbl TABLE(Column1 VARCHAR(100))
INSERT INTO #tbl
SELECT '1/1' UNION ALL
SELECT '1/20' UNION ALL
SELECT '1/2'
Then like this:
SELECT
SUBSTRING(tbl.Column1,CHARINDEX('/',tbl.Column1)+1,LEN(tbl.Column1))
FROM
#tbl AS tbl
SELECT emp.LoginID, emp.JobTitle, emp.BirthDate, emp.ModifiedDate ,
CASE WHEN emp.JobTitle NOT LIKE '%Document Control%' THEN emp.JobTitle
ELSE SUBSTRING(emp.JobTitle,CHARINDEX('Document Control',emp.JobTitle),LEN('Document Control'))
END
,emp.gender,emp.MaritalStatus
FROM HumanResources.Employee [emp]
WHERE JobTitle LIKE '[C-F]%'
Use CHARINDEX. Perhaps make user function. If you use this split often.
I would create this function:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[Split]
(
#String VARCHAR(max),
#Delimiter varCHAR(1)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
WITH Split(stpos,endpos)
AS(
SELECT 0 AS stpos, CHARINDEX(#Delimiter,#String) AS endpos
UNION ALL
SELECT endpos+1, CHARINDEX(#Delimiter,#String,endpos+1)
FROM Split
WHERE endpos > 0
)
SELECT 'INT_COLUMN' = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT 1)),
'STRING_COLUMN' = SUBSTRING(#String,stpos,COALESCE(NULLIF(endpos,0),LEN(#String)+1)-stpos)
FROM Split
)
GO

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