String occurrence count with Cross apply

Question

String occurrence count with Cross apply

kiril.lazarov.77

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Points: 3742
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June 17, 2014 at 3:59 pm

#292503

Hi All,
See sample data below. I'm trying to count the number of occurrences of strings stored in table @word without a while loop. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.
DECLARE @t TABLE (Id INT IDENTITY(1,1), String VARCHAR(MAX))
INSERT INTO @t
SELECT 'There are a lot of Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) resources available' AS String UNION ALL
SELECT 'but most teaching aids out there are geared towards professionals with cube development experience' UNION ALL
SELECT 'As a result SQL developers with no cube development experience start learning MDX on a poor footing' UNION ALL
SELECT 'because many of the learning aids completely disregard SQL as a good frame of reference for starting the learning process' UNION ALL
SELECT 'I am going to introduce MDX' UNION ALL
SELECT 'by drawing only on the similarity and differences between MDX and SQL' UNION ALL
SELECT 'and more importantly tackle some core MDX and cube concepts along the way' UNION ALL
SELECT 'In this first part, I will explain how to navigate the cube object with MDX' UNION ALL
SELECT 'by cutting through some of the quirkiness' UNION ALL
SELECT 'that makes MDX different from T-SQL even though both were are derived from SQL language' UNION ALL
SELECT 'Before we move on let’s see how' UNION ALL
SELECT 'SQL Server 2012 is changing SQL Server data analytics' UNION ALL
SELECT 'and why MDX is still very important in that regard'
DECLARE @word TABLE (Id INT IDENTITY(1,1), Word VARCHAR(100))
INSERT INTO @word
SELECT 'SQL' AS Word UNION ALL
SELECT 'MDX' UNION ALL
SELECT 'cube' UNION ALL
SELECT '2012' UNION ALL
SELECT 'learning'
SELECT * from @t
SELECT * from @word
-- Expected result
SELECT 'SQL' AS Word, 7 AS WordCount UNION ALL
SELECT 'MDX', 8 UNION ALL
SELECT 'cube', 4 UNION ALL
SELECT '2012', 1 UNION ALL
SELECT 'learning', 3
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J Livingston SQL SSC Guru Points: 51550 More actions · Answer 1

appreciate that you have provided sample data....but in your "real" world and to ensure scalability for a solution...can you tell us approx. number of rows in @t table and confirm that you need "string" to be varchar(max)

________________________________________________________________
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mister.magoo SSC-Forever Points: 47174 More actions · Answer 2

also, can you please tell us whether you are looking for exact matches or whether partial matches count?

e.g. if you are looking for "SQL", does "MySQL" count as a hit?

MM

select geometry::STGeomFromWKB(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

kiril.lazarov.77 Hall of Fame Points: 3742 More actions · Answer 3

Thank you for your quick response. Table @t may store up to 25,000 rows (I used table variable just for demonstration purposes) and yes it is a varchar(max).

Yes, I would like "MySQL" to be included too.

Thank you.

mister.magoo SSC-Forever Points: 47174 More actions · Answer 4

select Word,sum((len(t.string)-len(replace(t.string,Word,'')))/len(Word)) as count

from @word as w

cross join @t as t

group by Word

MM

select geometry::STGeomFromWKB(0x0106000000020000000103000000010000000B0000001000000000000840000000000000003DD8CCCCCCCCCC0840000000000000003DD8CCCCCCCCCC08408014AE47E17AFC3F040000000000104000CDCCCCCCCCEC3F9C999999999913408014AE47E17AFC3F9C99999999991340000000000000003D0000000000001440000000000000003D000000000000144000000000000000400400000000001040000000000000F03F100000000000084000000000000000401000000000000840000000000000003D0103000000010000000B000000000000000000143D000000000000003D009E99999999B93F000000000000003D009E99999999B93F8014AE47E17AFC3F400000000000F03F00CDCCCCCCCCEC3FA06666666666FE3F8014AE47E17AFC3FA06666666666FE3F000000000000003D1800000000000040000000000000003D18000000000000400000000000000040400000000000F03F000000000000F03F000000000000143D0000000000000040000000000000143D000000000000003D, 0);

kiril.lazarov.77 Hall of Fame Points: 3742 More actions · Answer 5

Thank you!

I have two follow up questions.

Is there a way to change the query so that it only counts the word(s) once per row?

Also, I would like to count the rows that do not include any of those words and return the count in the result set (maybe with a union).

Thank you for your time.

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183706 More actions · Answer 6

Maybe something like this?

SELECT ISNULL( w.Word, 'None'),

COUNT(t.String),

ISNULL( SUM((LEN(t.String)-LEN(REPLACE(t.String,w.Word,'')))/LEN(w.Word)), COUNT(t.String))

FROM @word w

RIGHT

JOIN @t t ON String LIKE '%' + Word + '%'

GROUP BY Word

Luis C.
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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004600 More actions · Answer 7

clayman (6/17/2014)
Thank you for your quick response. Table @t may store up to 25,000 rows (I used table variable just for demonstration purposes) and yes it is a varchar(max).
Yes, I would like "MySQL" to be included too.
Thank you.

Understood that it IS a VARCHAR(MAX). I believe the question is, does it have to be? The reason why everyone is asking that is because there's a function that might be able to do a whole lot more than you might expect for such a thing. The only trouble with it is that it runs twice as slow if it's converted to VARCHAR(MAX).

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kiril.lazarov.77 Hall of Fame Points: 3742 More actions · Answer 8

Jeff Moden (6/17/2014)
clayman (6/17/2014)
Thank you for your quick response. Table @t may store up to 25,000 rows (I used table variable just for demonstration purposes) and yes it is a varchar(max).
Yes, I would like "MySQL" to be included too.
Thank you.
Understood that it IS a VARCHAR(MAX). I believe the question is, does it have to be? The reason why everyone is asking that is because there's a function that might be able to do a whole lot more than you might expect for such a thing. The only trouble with it is that it runs twice as slow if it's converted to VARCHAR(MAX).

The data type in the database is TEXT (I know..) so I'm converting it to VARCHAR(MAX) in the stored procedure. Whether it has to be VARCHAR(MAX) or not, I'm not sure about that. All I know these string can pretty long and I don't want to lose any data.

mister.magoo SSC-Forever Points: 47174 More actions · Answer 9

clayman (6/17/2014)
Thank you!
I have two follow up questions.
Is there a way to change the query so that it only counts the word(s) once per row?
Also, I would like to count the rows that do not include any of those words and return the count in the result set (maybe with a union).
Thank you for your time.

Yes, try this

select isnull(Word,'No Match') as Word,sum(1) as count

from @t t

left outer join @word as w

on t.string like '%'+w.word+'%'

group by Word

MM

select geometry::STGeomFromWKB(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

kiril.lazarov.77 Hall of Fame Points: 3742 More actions · Answer 10

Thank you.

I would also like to search for synonym words, however they should not be counted separately. Note, these synonyms could also be placed in a new table, they don't have to be comma separated strings.

Would full text indexing make more sense in this scenario (then I could just add those synonyms in the tsenu.xml file)? Thank you.

DECLARE @t TABLE (Id INT IDENTITY(1,1), String VARCHAR(MAX))

INSERT INTO @t

SELECT 'I bought a new shirt, I purchased a new t-shirt.' AS String UNION ALL

SELECT 'He looks very miserable today. He looks very sad today.' UNION ALL

SELECT 'I’ve been searching for that book for weeks!I’ve been looking for that book for weeks!' UNION ALL

SELECT 'He looks sad since he could not afford to buy a shirt'

DECLARE @word TABLE (Id INT IDENTITY(1,1), Word VARCHAR(100), WordSyn VARCHAR(500))

INSERT INTO @word

SELECT 'buy' AS Word,'bought, purchase, purchased, obtain, obtained' AS WordSynUNION ALL

SELECT 'sad','miserable, unhappy, depressed, gloomy'UNION ALL

SELECT 'search','look for, looking for, looked for, searching for, search for, searched for'

select isnull(Word,'No Match') as Word,sum(1) as count

from @t t

left outer join @word as w

on t.string like '%'+w.word+'%'

group by Word

-- Expected output would be

select 'buy' as [Word], 3 as [count] UNION ALL

select 'sad', 3 UNION ALL

select 'search', 2

String occurrence count with Cross apply

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