Replace the first charatcer in a String

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Replace the first charatcer in a String

hoseam

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September 7, 2017 at 7:22 am

#339691

I want to replace all the values in a Column that starts with 0 to start with 27.
Please help.

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Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183698 More actions · Answer 1

hoseam - Thursday, September 7, 2017 7:22 AM
I want to replace all the values in a Column that starts with 0 to start with 27.
Please help.

Look for the STUFF() function.

Luis C.
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Phil Parkin SSC Guru Points: 246686 More actions · Answer 2

hoseam - Thursday, September 7, 2017 7:22 AM
I want to replace all the values in a Column that starts with 0 to start with 27.
Please help.

CREATE TABLE #Test (Dsc VARCHAR(50));

INSERT #Test ( Dsc ) VALUES ('0lzdhksd') ,('abc');

SELECT * FROM #Test t;

UPDATE #Test SET Dsc = STUFF(Dsc, 1, 1, '27') WHERE Dsc LIKE '0%';

SELECT * FROM #Test t;

If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.

Avi1 SSCrazy Points: 2323 More actions · Answer 3

please give some sample data and expected result
My understanding is you want to change first character with 27th, below script should be useful

Declare @txt varchar(100) = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789'

select @txt, stuff(@txt,1,1,substring(@txt,27,1))

anand08sharma SSC Enthusiast Points: 180 More actions · Answer 4

hoseam - Thursday, September 7, 2017 7:22 AM
I want to replace all the values in a Column that starts with 0 to start with 27.
Please help.

select regexp_replace(column_name,0,27,1,1) from your_table

Phil Parkin SSC Guru Points: 246686 More actions · Answer 5

anand08sharma - Thursday, September 7, 2017 10:38 AM
select regexp_replace(column_name,0,27,1,1) from your_table

regexp_replace is not a T-SQL function.

If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183698 More actions · Answer 6

anand08sharma - Thursday, September 7, 2017 10:38 AM
hoseam - Thursday, September 7, 2017 7:22 AM
I want to replace all the values in a Column that starts with 0 to start with 27.
Please help.
select regexp_replace(column_name,0,27,1,1) from your_table

That function is not part of T-SQL (at least, not yet)

Luis C.
General Disclaimer:
Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

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Alan Burstein SSC Guru Points: 61136 More actions · Answer 7

Phil Parkin - Thursday, September 7, 2017 10:46 AM
anand08sharma - Thursday, September 7, 2017 10:38 AM
select regexp_replace(column_name,0,27,1,1) from your_table
regexp_replace is not a T-SQL function.

It could be a very poorly named scalar udf 😛

"I cant stress enough the importance of switching from a sequential files mindset to set-based thinking. After you make the switch, you can spend your time tuning and optimizing your queries instead of maintaining lengthy, poor-performing code."

-- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003853 More actions · Answer 8

Avi1 - Thursday, September 7, 2017 7:33 AM
please give some sample data and expected result
My understanding is you want to change first character with 27th, below script should be useful
Declare @txt varchar(100) = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789'
select @txt, stuff(@txt,1,1,substring(@txt,27,1))

Not the 27th character. The OP want's to replace the first character with the number '27' if and only if the first character is "0".

Phil Parkin 's code in his first post above does that quite nicely.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

audrey.abbey SSC Veteran Points: 211 More actions · Answer 9

Phil Parkin - Thursday, September 7, 2017 10:46 AM
anand08sharma - Thursday, September 7, 2017 10:38 AM
select regexp_replace(column_name,0,27,1,1) from your_table
regexp_replace is not a T-SQL function.

REPLACE is, though.
SELECT REPLACE(Columnname, 0, 27) FROM table WHERE columnname LIKE '0%'

Unfortunately, in SQL Server, REPLACE would replace ALL zeros in the number with a 27, not just the first one.

SELECT '011111010101010', STUFF('011111010101010',1,1,27)

The first argument is the string to act on.
The second argument tells us where to start - First char.
The third tells you how many characters to replace.
The fourth tells you what to replace with.

Update would look something like this:
UPDATE table set column = STUFF(column,1,1,27) WHERE column like '0%'

Phil Parkin SSC Guru Points: 246686 More actions · Answer 10

audrey.abbey - Friday, September 8, 2017 11:02 AM
--
Update would look something like this:
UPDATE table set column = STUFF(column,1,1,27) WHERE column like '0%'

You seem to have regurgitated the query I provided in my first answer on this thread, except you have forgotten to enclose 27 in quotes, forcing the DB engine to perform an unnecessary implicit data conversion.

If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.

audrey.abbey SSC Veteran Points: 211 More actions · Answer 11

Phil Parkin - Friday, September 8, 2017 11:23 AM
audrey.abbey - Friday, September 8, 2017 11:02 AM
--
Update would look something like this:
UPDATE table set column = STUFF(column,1,1,27) WHERE column like '0%'
You seem to have regurgitated the query I provided in my first answer on this thread, except you have forgotten to enclose 27 in quotes, forcing the DB engine to perform an unnecessary implicit data conversion.

You made my whole day, lol. Thank you.

crazy_new SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4804 More actions · Answer 12

You can also use replace as below:

UPDATE #Test SET Dsc = REPLACE(dsc,SUBSTRING(dsc,1,1),'27') WHERE Dsc LIKE '0%';

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183698 More actions · Answer 13

crazy_new - Wednesday, September 13, 2017 2:45 AM
You can also use replace as below:
UPDATE #Test SET Dsc = REPLACE(dsc,SUBSTRING(dsc,1,1),'27') WHERE Dsc LIKE '0%';

That keeps the same problem that was described for replace while adding more work.

Luis C.
General Disclaimer:
Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2

Phil Parkin SSC Guru Points: 246686 More actions · Answer 14

Luis Cazares - Wednesday, September 13, 2017 7:56 AM
crazy_new - Wednesday, September 13, 2017 2:45 AM
You can also use replace as below:
UPDATE #Test SET Dsc = REPLACE(dsc,SUBSTRING(dsc,1,1),'27') WHERE Dsc LIKE '0%';
That keeps the same problem that was described for replace while adding more work.

Precisely. Why bother using SUBSTRING to extract character one of a string, when you know (from the WHERE clause) that this character MUST be zero.

If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.