MySQL – How to Split Numbers and Text

MySQLregexreplace

I have searched over the internet looking for a function like REGEXP_REPLACE in Oracle, regexp_replace in PostgresSQL but I haven't find one similar in MySQL just REGEXP and RLIKE, but these operators just check whether the string matches pattern containing a regular expression not what the match is.

I have read about UDF like mysql-udf-regexp, but it doesn't work for me since I want something that I can manipulate like stored functions for faster optimization tasks or whatever conditions I want.

My questions are:

Do I have to make 2 functions if I want to delete all the alpha characters when I want just letters or vice versa?
Does anyone know any better way to approach this?

Best Answer

I have a rather ugly approach that will strip alphanumeric characters from a user variable

STRIPPING ALPHAS

SET @st='r1+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7';
SELECT (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) FROM
(
    SELECT (x*10+y) ndx,SUBSTR(chars,x*10+y,1) ch FROM
    (SELECT 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' chars) L,
    (SELECT 0 x UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) X,
    (SELECT 0 y UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) Y
    WHERE SUBSTR(chars,x*10+Y,1)<>'' ORDER BY SUBSTR(chars,x*10+y,1)
) alpha;
SELECT @st;

STRIPPING ALPHAS EXECUTED

mysql> SELECT (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) FROM
    -> (
    ->     SELECT (x*10+y) ndx,SUBSTR(chars,x*10+y,1) ch FROM
    ->     (SELECT 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' chars) L,
    ->     (SELECT 0 x UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    ->     UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) X
    ->     (SELECT 0 y UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    ->     UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) Y
    ->     WHERE SUBSTR(chars,x*10+Y,1)<>'' ORDER BY SUBSTR(chars,x*10+y,1)
    -> ) alpha;
+---------------------------+
| (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) |
+---------------------------+
| r1+o2l-34*n5d6o7          |
| r1+o2l-34*n5d6o7          |
| r1+o2l-34*n5d6o7          |
| r1+o2l-34*n56o7           |
| r1+o2l-34*n56o7           |
| r1+o2l-34*n56o7           |
| r1+o2l-34*n56o7           |
| r1+o2l-34*n56o7           |
| r1+o2l-34*n56o7           |
| r1+o2l-34*n56o7           |
| r1+o2l-34*n56o7           |
| r1+o2-34*n56o7            |
| r1+o2-34*n56o7            |
| r1+o2-34*56o7             |
| r1+2-34*567               |
| r1+2-34*567               |
| r1+2-34*567               |
| 1+2-34*567                |
| 1+2-34*567                |
| 1+2-34*567                |
| 1+2-34*567                |
| 1+2-34*567                |
| 1+2-34*567                |
| 1+2-34*567                |
| 1+2-34*567                |
| 1+2-34*567                |
+---------------------------+
26 rows in set (0.00 sec)

STRIPPING ALPHAS RESULT

mysql> SELECT @st;
+------------+
| @st        |
+------------+
| 1+2-34*567 |
+------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

STRIPPING NUMERICS

SET @st='r1+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7';
SELECT (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) FROM
(
    SELECT x+1 ndx,SUBSTR(chars,x+1,1) ch FROM
    (SELECT '0123456789' chars) L,
    (SELECT 0 x UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) X
) numerics;
SELECT @st;

STRIPPING NUMERICS EXECUTED

mysql> SET @st='r1+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) FROM
    -> (
    ->     SELECT x+1 ndx,SUBSTR(chars,x+1,1) ch FROM
    ->     (SELECT '0123456789' chars) L,
    ->     (SELECT 0 x UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    ->     UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) X
    -> ) numerics;
+---------------------------+
| (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) |
+---------------------------+
| r1+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7         |
| r+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7          |
| r+ol-3a4*n5d6o7           |
| r+ol-a4*n5d6o7            |
| r+ol-a*n5d6o7             |
| r+ol-a*nd6o7              |
| r+ol-a*ndo7               |
| r+ol-a*ndo                |
| r+ol-a*ndo                |
| r+ol-a*ndo                |
+---------------------------+
10 rows in set (0.00 sec)

STRIPPING NUMERICS RESULT

mysql> SELECT @st;
+------------+
| @st        |
+------------+
| r+ol-a*ndo |
+------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

STRIPPING ALPHANUMERICS

SET @st='r1+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7';
SELECT (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) FROM
(
    SELECT (x*10+y) ndx,SUBSTR(chars,x*10+y,1) ch FROM
    (SELECT 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789' chars) L,
    (SELECT 0 x UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) X,
    (SELECT 0 y UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) Y
    WHERE SUBSTR(chars,x*10+Y,1)<>'' ORDER BY SUBSTR(chars,x*10+y,1)
) alphanumeric;
SELECT @st;

STRIPPING ALPHANUMERICS EXECUTED

mysql> SET @st='r1+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) FROM
    -> (
    ->     SELECT (x*10+y) ndx,SUBSTR(chars,x*10+y,1) ch FROM
    ->     (SELECT 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789' chars) L,
    ->     (SELECT 0 x UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    ->     UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) X,
    ->     (SELECT 0 y UNION SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION SELECT 3 UNION SELECT 4
    ->     UNION SELECT 5 x UNION SELECT 6 UNION SELECT 7 UNION SELECT 8 UNION SELECT 9) Y
    ->     WHERE SUBSTR(chars,x*10+Y,1)<>'' ORDER BY SUBSTR(chars,x*10+y,1)
    -> ) alphanumeric;
+---------------------------+
| (@st:=REPLACE(@st,ch,'')) |
+---------------------------+
| r1+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7         |
| r+o2l-3a4*n5d6o7          |
| r+ol-3a4*n5d6o7           |
| r+ol-a4*n5d6o7            |
| r+ol-a*n5d6o7             |
| r+ol-a*nd6o7              |
| r+ol-a*ndo7               |
| r+ol-a*ndo                |
| r+ol-a*ndo                |
| r+ol-a*ndo                |
| r+ol-*ndo                 |
| r+ol-*ndo                 |
| r+ol-*ndo                 |
| r+ol-*no                  |
| r+ol-*no                  |
| r+ol-*no                  |
| r+ol-*no                  |
| r+ol-*no                  |
| r+ol-*no                  |
| r+ol-*no                  |
| r+ol-*no                  |
| r+o-*no                   |
| r+o-*no                   |
| r+o-*o                    |
| r+-*                      |
| r+-*                      |
| r+-*                      |
| +-*                       |
| +-*                       |
| +-*                       |
| +-*                       |
| +-*                       |
| +-*                       |
| +-*                       |
| +-*                       |
| +-*                       |
+---------------------------+
36 rows in set (0.00 sec)

STRIPPING ALPHANUMERICS RESULT

mysql> SELECT @st;
+------+
| @st  |
+------+
| +-*  |
+------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

EPILOGUE

This SELECT query is meant to hold up to 100 characters for stripping

You can replace (SELECT 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789' chars) L, with any list of characters you wish to strip from a user variable.

GIVE IT A TRY !!!

Related Solutions

Mysql – Query to find and replace text in all tables and fields of a thesql db

You need to use the information_schema database to generate the script.

Collect all columns from every table of every database that have the following criteria:

Exclude the following databases:
- information_schema
- performance_schema
- mysql
COLUMN_TYPE values with one of the following characteristics:
- starts with CHAR(
- starts with VARCHAR(
- ends with TEXT (TEXT, MEDIUMTEXT, LONGTEXT)

Here is the query to get those columns

SELECT table_schema,table_name,column_name FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema NOT IN ('information_schema','mysql','performance_schema')
AND (column_type LIKE 'char(%' OR column_type LIKE 'varchar(%' OR column_type LIKE '%text');

Using the above query, construct a set of queries that outputs SQL for converting fuschia to fuchsia:

SELECT CONCAT('UPDATE ',table_schema,'.',table_name,
' SET ',column_name,'=REPLACE(',column_name,',''fuschia'',''fuchsia'');')
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema NOT IN ('information_schema','mysql','performance_schema')
AND (column_type LIKE 'char(%'
OR column_type LIKE 'varchar(%'
OR column_type LIKE '%text');

Take that query and send its output to a text file. Import text into mysql:

SQL="SELECT CONCAT('UPDATE ',table_schema,'.',table_name,"
SQL="${SQL}' SET \`',column_name,'\`=REPLACE(\`',column_name,'\`,''fuschia'',''fuchsia'');') "
SQL="${SQL} FROM information_schema.columns WHERE "
SQL="${SQL} table_schema NOT IN ('information_schema','mysql','performance_schema') "
SQL="${SQL} AND (column_type LIKE 'char(%' "
SQL="${SQL} OR column_type LIKE 'varchar(%'"
SQL="${SQL} OR column_type LIKE '%text');"
mysql -u... -p... -ANe"${SQL}" > GlobalReplace_fuschia_to_fuchsia.sql
less GlobalReplace_fuschia_to_fuchsia.sql

If the file looks good, feel free to execute it.

Give it a Try !!!

How to Replace Column Content in MySQL

Let's say you want to update id 27

Run this first

SELECT REPLACE(content,'http://www.abc.com/data/img','http://www.def.com/data/img') newurl
FROM Content_T1 WHERE id = 27;

If the result is correct, you can run

UPDATE Content_T1
SET content = REPLACE(content,'http://www.abc.com/data/img','http://www.def.com/data/img')
WHERE id = 27;
SELECT content FROM Content_T1 WHERE id = 27;

If the result is correct and you are ready to fix all of them, run this query without the WHERE clause:

UPDATE Content_T1
SET content = REPLACE(content,'http://www.abc.com/data/img','http://www.def.com/data/img');

Please, go to a test server and run this. When the results are correct ...

Best Answer

STRIPPING ALPHAS

STRIPPING ALPHAS EXECUTED

STRIPPING ALPHAS RESULT

STRIPPING NUMERICS

STRIPPING NUMERICS EXECUTED

STRIPPING NUMERICS RESULT

STRIPPING ALPHANUMERICS

STRIPPING ALPHANUMERICS EXECUTED

STRIPPING ALPHANUMERICS RESULT

EPILOGUE

GIVE IT A TRY !!!

Related Solutions

Mysql – Query to find and replace text in all tables and fields of a thesql db

How to Replace Column Content in MySQL

GIVE IT A TRY !!!

Related Question