I don't have any suggestions for a script, but I've wrestled with this issue before in other places. It is very difficult to regularize the format of a full name:
Johnson, Jr. - Fred Applewhite-Smith, Pamela Quimby III, Roger Alan etc. I suppose it all depends upon how bad the existing data is, and how picky you are about the results. You can probably do what you want with a combination of REGEXP, IF, SUBSTRING, and CONCAT; but it would take more time than I have to work it out. Regards, Jerry Schwartz Global Information Incorporated 195 Farmington Ave. Farmington, CT 06032 860.674.8796 / FAX: 860.674.8341 > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1:18 PM > To: mysql@lists.mysql.com > Subject: Remove unwanted characters from a name field > > I have a field called name which stores a person's first, middle and > last name. > > Previously, these names (17800 of them) were entered in the > database by > different people so there was no consistency in the format > used. There > are now names entered such as: > > Smith, John S. > Doe - Jane W. > Doe John > > > What I would like to do is to have a script that can update > the database > and make all names appear with a comma separating the last and first > name as shown in the first example: Smith, John S. > > The rest of the name format does not matter. > > Is this possible and if so, can someone be kind enough to > help with such > a script and or point me in the right direction. > > Thanks > > > > -- > MySQL General Mailing List > For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql > To unsubscribe: > http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
