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Using SOUNDEX and DIFFERENCE to Standardize Data in SQL Server

My client wants to standardize address information for existing and future addresses collected for their customers, particularly the street suffixes. The application used to enter and collect address information has the street suffix separated from the address field, but it is a textbox instead of a drop down list therefore things are not standardized. I know there are some options out there to standarize data, but they would like a less expensive alternative. Are there any functions in SQL Server that I can use to standardized data?

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Decoupling the Database

Database refactoring is a difficult proposition at the best of times, but is rendered more or less impossible if the database is close-coupled to the application's other components. In a guest editorial, Mladen Prajdic stresses the importance of a native SQL Server abstraction layer.

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Question of the Day

Fun with JSON II

I have some data in a table:

CREATE TABLE #test_data
(
    id INT PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    birth_date DATE
);

-- Step 2: Insert rows  
INSERT INTO #test_data
VALUES
(1, 'Olivia', '2025-01-05'),
(2, 'Emma', '2025-03-02'),
(3, 'Liam', '2025-11-15'),
(4, 'Noah', '2025-12-22');
If I run this query, how many rows are returned?
SELECT t1.[key] AS row,
       t2.*
FROM OPENJSON(
     (
         SELECT t.* FROM #test_data AS t FOR JSON PATH
     )
             ) t1
    CROSS APPLY OPENJSON(t1.value) t2;

See possible answers