"Ed Reed" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 03/24/2005 02:49:30 PM:
> This is an interesting problem that I hope someone can help me with. I > have a varchar field that contains data like this, > > 01/01/05 SG Reviewed this > 12/15/03 DSD Reviewed that > 10/24/02 EWW Worked on that and tested this then stop to do something > else > 05/02/01 AW Did something > 08/31/98 DSD Tested this > 07/22/97 EWW Worked on that and did something > > I need a Select statement that returns the Date for the first occurance > of the 'Tested this' substring > > So far what I've come up with doesn't quite get what I need and it's > already pretty hairy. I wonder if there's a more elegant way that I'm > unaware of. > > Thanks I think you need to extract those columns during data import. That way you have date values in a date column, the initials in their own column, and the actions in a column all their own. It will make this a much more manageable design. If you already have this in the database, then I would reprocess the table and split your data up into separate columns. Shawn Green Database Administrator Unimin Corporation - Spruce Pine
