SQL Question

[Robert Harrison-7]

 
This seems like something I should know, but DUH, here goes:

Lets say I have a field that may have a really long data string, say
50,000 characters, but I only need the first 300 characters. Anything
beyond that is a waste of system resources.

Is there a way in the SQL select statement I can retreive only the first
XX characters of a field string?

Thanks,

Robert B. Harrison
Director of Interactive Services, Ext. 205

155 East Main Street
Smithtown, NY 11787
P [phone]
F [phone]
http://www.linx.com
 
 
 

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[Rob Mackenzie]

You should be able to do it with a LEFT() statement:

SELECT Left(myColumn,300) AS myColumnTruncated...

Rob Mackenzie
Jera Technology

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Harrison [mailto:RobertH@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 10:01 AM
To: NYCFUG
Subject: SQL Question

 
This seems like something I should know, but DUH, here goes:

Lets say I have a field that may have a really long data string, say
50,000 characters, but I only need the first 300 characters. Anything
beyond that is a waste of system resources.

Is there a way in the SQL select statement I can retreive only the first
XX characters of a field string?

Thanks,

Robert B. Harrison
Director of Interactive Services, Ext. 205

155 East Main Street
Smithtown, NY 11787
P [phone]
F [phone]
http://www.linx.com
 
 
 



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[Cook, Scott]

Depending on the DB, this works in Sybase probably MS SQL too

select convert(varchar(300),textfield) as field300

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Harrison [mailto:RobertH@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 10:01 AM
To: NYCFUG
Subject: SQL Question


 
This seems like something I should know, but DUH, here goes:

Lets say I have a field that may have a really long data string, say
50,000 characters, but I only need the first 300 characters. Anything
beyond that is a waste of system resources.

Is there a way in the SQL select statement I can retreive only the first
XX characters of a field string?

Thanks,

Robert B. Harrison
Director of Interactive Services, Ext. 205

155 East Main Street
Smithtown, NY 11787
P [phone]
F [phone]
http://www.linx.com
 
 
 



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[Dave Carabetta]

On 11/23/05, Robert Harrison <RobertH@...> wrote:

>
> This seems like something I should know, but DUH, here goes:
>
> Lets say I have a field that may have a really long data string, say
> 50,000 characters, but I only need the first 300 characters. Anything
> beyond that is a waste of system resources.
>
> Is there a way in the SQL select statement I can retreive only the first
> XX characters of a field string?
>

It would help if you told us what database you're using! ;)

In Oracle, you can do SUBSTR(myColumn, 1, 300). I'm sure SQL Server
has an equivalent, whether it be SUBSTR() or a LEFT() function or
something.

Regards,
Dave.

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[Donn Morrill II]

SELECT LEFT(some_field,300) FROM table_foo

---------------------------------------------------
Donn Morrill                  TGP Associates, Inc.
Director of Technology        212-695-1010 x112
dmorrill@...    www.tgpassociates.com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Harrison [mailto:RobertH@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 10:01 AM
To: NYCFUG
Subject: SQL Question

 
This seems like something I should know, but DUH, here goes:

Lets say I have a field that may have a really long data string, say 50,000
characters, but I only need the first 300 characters. Anything beyond that
is a waste of system resources.

Is there a way in the SQL select statement I can retreive only the first XX
characters of a field string?

Thanks,

Robert B. Harrison
Director of Interactive Services, Ext. 205

155 East Main Street
Smithtown, NY 11787
P [phone]
F [phone]
http://www.linx.com
 
 
 



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[Cook, Scott]

Ok, who won that one? :-)

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Harrison [mailto:RobertH@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 10:01 AM
To: NYCFUG
Subject: SQL Question
 
This seems like something I should know, but DUH, here goes:

Lets say I have a field that may have a really long data string, say
50,000 characters, but I only need the first 300 characters. Anything
beyond that is a waste of system resources.

Is there a way in the SQL select statement I can retreive only the first
XX characters of a field string?

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[Dave Carabetta]

On 11/23/05, Cook, Scott <scott.cook@...> wrote:
> Ok, who won that one? :-)
>

Ha! I didn't even realize there were this many people on the list!
Good to know there's still CF in New York other than my job!

Regards,
Dave.

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[Robert Harrison-7]

Thanks. I'm doing a complex and writing a Google Like search query and
string parse and I go brain dead on something I should now in my sleep,
but the help is appreciated.

And as I saw the emails coming I said each time, in the immortal words
of Homer Simpson... DUH!

Well, I was looking forward to Turkey day... Just didn't know I'd be the
Turkey.

Thanks Everyone.


Robert B. Harrison
Director of Interactive Services, Ext. 205

155 East Main Street
Smithtown, NY 11787
P [phone]
F [phone]
http://www.linx.com
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Carabetta [mailto:dcarabetta@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 10:29 AM
To: NYCFUG
Subject: Re: SQL Question

On 11/23/05, Cook, Scott <scott.cook@...> wrote:
> Ok, who won that one? :-)
>

Ha! I didn't even realize there were this many people on the list!
Good to know there's still CF in New York other than my job!

Regards,
Dave.



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