Personally, I usually like Reference books better than "Idiot's Guide"
books. And my favorite reference handbook for the SQL language (ANSI SQL-92
standard) is
Martin Gruber, SQL Instant Reference (SYBEX). There is (was) at least a
2nd edition available.
No fluff, just standard syntax and a good description of the key things you
need to know for writing SQL queries.
You'll still need to check the MySQL documentation to find out what is/isn't
supported, what differes froim the standard, and what specific functions are
available, etc.
HTH,
Tore.
----- Original Message -----
From: "chip wiegand" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Tore Bostrup" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2003 4:25 PM
Subject: Re: update question
> On Sun, 2 Mar 2003 02:06:40 -0500
> "Tore Bostrup" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > I assume you are storing your dates in a char/varchar column - not a
> > good choice to start with... :-<
>
> yes, varchar. I'm still learning this stuff, and experimenting with it.
>
> > Assuming all the values are supposed to be stored as MM-DD-YY
> > (anothoer marginal choice, but the problem may not rear its head again
> > for another 96+ years), you can do the following:
>
> heh, heh, I don't think I'll be around another 96 years to find out.
> Lets see, I would be 139 years old. Probably wouldn't be pushing too
> many keys on the keyboard at that age. This particular database/tables
> are not for business use, just my own learning.
>
> > UPDATE mytable
> > SET mydatestr = LEFT(mydatestr, LENGTH(mydatestr) - 3)
> > WHERE mydatestr LIKE '__-__-__-__'
>
> Thanks for the help, worked great. I didn't know about the underscore
> being a wildcard character.
> I should look for a better MySQL book, the ones I have don't cover that
> info. Any suggestions for one that does?
> --
> Chip
>
> > HTH,
> > Tore.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "chip wiegand" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: "mysql" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2003 1:46 AM
> > Subject: update question
> >
> >
> > > I need to make a change to a field in a table and don't know how to
> > > write the correct sql statement. I made an error and now have a date
> > > field with the year repeated twice - 01-01-03-03 - there are
> > > aproximately 100 rows like this, and maybe 20 or so that are
> > > formatted properly. How can I remove the last 3 characters while
> > > leaving other rows that do not have this problem alone? (other than
> > > manaully editing each row of course)
> > > Thanks,
> > > Chip W.
> > > www.wiegand.org
> > >
> > > -------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > -- Before posting, please check:
> > > http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual)
> > > http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive)
> > >
> > > To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > To unsubscribe, e-mail
> > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble
> > > unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
> > >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Before posting, please check:
> > http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual)
> > http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive)
> >
> > To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail
> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble
> > unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
> >
> >
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Before posting, please check:
http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual)
http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive)
To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
