Re: parsing using sql help please

On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 1:58 PM, Eugene Pipko <eugene.pipko_at_unionbay.com>wrote:

> Hi all,
> I need to be able to parse list of customers by first/last names.
> The problems is that each name can come in many different ways.
> For instance:
> 'Eugene Pipko'
> 'Eugene Pipko' -- many blanks in between
> 'Eugene A Pipko' -- mid initial with one space in between
> 'Eugene A. Pipko' -- mid initial with a dot and multiple spaces
>
> I am thinking of getting first name using substr('Eugene
> Pipko',1,instrt('Eugene Pipko',' ',1,1)) to start searching from the
> beginning of the name.
> Now, the last name can be found by looking backwards till the first blank,
> but ... I don't know how to do it. I can user substr() to search backwards,
> but I need to find first blank starting from the end.
> Can instr() be used to search in reverse?
>
> [cid:image001.png_at_01CCCF86.CDDE0A70]
>
>
>
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>
>

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