T-SQL substring - separating first and last name

Question

I have a column which has FirstName and LastName together. I\'m writing a report to separate the FirstName And LastName. How do I get the FirstName and LastName separated in

Answer 1

This should work:

Select  
    LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(FullName, 0, CHARINDEX(' ', FullName)))) As FirstName
,   LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(FullName, CHARINDEX(' ', FullName)+1, 8000)))As LastName
FROM TABLE

Edit: Adopted Aaron's and Jonny's hint with the fixed length of 8000 to avoid unnecessary calculations.

Answer 2

You may have problems if the Fullname doesn't contain a space. Assuming the whole of FullName goes to Surname if there is no space and FirstName becomes an empty string, then you can use this:

SELECT
  RTRIM(LEFT(FullName, CHARINDEX(' ', FullName))) AS FirstName,
  SUBSTRING(FullName, CHARINDEX(' ', FullName) + 1, 8000) AS LastName
FROM
  MyNameTable;

Answer 3

The easiest way I can find to do it is:

SELECT 
  SUBSTRING(FullName, 1, CHARINDEX(' ', FullName) - 1) AS FirstName,
  REVERSE(SUBSTRING(REVERSE(FullName), 1, CHARINDEX(' ', REVERSE(FullName)) - 1)) AS LastName
FROM
  [PERSON_TABLE]

Answer 4

validate last name is blank

SELECT  
person.fullName,
(CASE WHEN 0 = CHARINDEX(' ', person.fullName) 
    then  person.fullName 
    ELSE SUBSTRING(person.fullName, 1, CHARINDEX(' ', person.fullName)) end) as first_name,  
(CASE WHEN 0 = CHARINDEX(' ', person.fullName) 
    THEN ''  
    ELSE SUBSTRING(person.fullName,CHARINDEX(' ', person.fullName), LEN(person.fullName) )end) last_name

FROM person

Answer 5

Here is a more elaborated solution with a SQL function:

GetFirstname

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[ufn_GetFirstName]  
(  
 @FullName varchar(500)  
)  
RETURNS varchar(500)  
AS  
BEGIN  
 -- Declare the return variable here  
 DECLARE @RetName varchar(500)  

 SET @FullName = replace( replace( replace( replace( @FullName, '.', '' ), 'Mrs', '' ), 'Ms', '' ), 'Mr', '' )  

 SELECT   
  @RetName =   
    CASE WHEN charindex( ' ', ltrim( rtrim( @FullName ) ) ) > 0 THEN left( ltrim( rtrim( @FullName ) ), charindex( ' ', ltrim( rtrim( @FullName  ) ) ) - 1 ) ELSE '' END  

 RETURN @RetName  
END

GetLastName

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[ufn_GetLastName]  
(  
 @FullName varchar(500)  
)  
RETURNS varchar(500)  
AS  
BEGIN  
 DECLARE @RetName varchar(500)  

 IF(right(ltrim(rtrim(@FullName)), 2) <> ' I')  
 BEGIN  
  set @RetName = left(   
   CASE WHEN   
    charindex( ' ', reverse( ltrim( rtrim(   
    replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( @FullName, ' Jr', '' ), ' III', '' ), ' II', '' ), ' Jr.', '' ), ' Sr', ''), 'Sr.', '')  
    ) ) ) ) > 0   
   THEN   
    right( ltrim( rtrim(   
    replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( @FullName, ' Jr', '' ), ' III', '' ), ' II', '' ), ' Jr.', '' ), ' Sr', ''), 'Sr.', '')  
    ) ) , charindex( ' ', reverse( ltrim( rtrim(   
    replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( @FullName, ' Jr', '' ), ' III', '' ), ' II', '' ), ' Jr.', '' ), ' Sr', ''), 'Sr.', '')  
    ) ) )  ) - 1 )   
   ELSE '' END  
  , 25 )  
 END  
 ELSE  
 BEGIN  
  SET @RetName = left(   
   CASE WHEN   
    charindex( ' ', reverse( ltrim( rtrim(   
    replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( @FullName, ' Jr', '' ), ' III', '' ), ' II', '' ), ' I', '' ), ' Jr.', '' ), ' Sr', ''), 'Sr.', '')  
    ) ) ) ) > 0   
   THEN   
    right( ltrim( rtrim(   
    replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( @FullName, ' Jr', '' ), ' III', '' ), ' II', '' ), ' I', '' ), ' Jr.', '' ), ' Sr', ''), 'Sr.', '')  
    ) ) , charindex( ' ', reverse( ltrim( rtrim(   
    replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( @FullName, ' Jr', '' ), ' III', '' ), ' II', '' ), ' I', '' ), ' Jr.', '' ), ' Sr', ''), 'Sr.', '')  
    ) ) )  ) - 1 )   
   ELSE '' END  
  , 25 )  
 END  

 RETURN @RetName  
END

USE:

SELECT dbo.ufn_GetFirstName(Fullname) as FirstName, dbo.ufn_GetLastName(Fullname) as LastName FROM #Names

Answer 6

For the last name as in US standards (i.e., last word in the [Full Name] column) and considering first name to include a possible middle initial, middle name, etc.:

SELECT DISTINCT
             [Full Name]
            ,REVERSE([Full Name])                   --  to visualize what the formula is doing
            ,CHARINDEX(' ', REVERSE([Full Name]))   --  finds the last space in the string
            ,[Last Name]    =   REVERSE(RTRIM(LTRIM(LEFT(REVERSE([Full Name]), CHARINDEX(' ', REVERSE([Full Name]))))))
            ,[First Name]   =   RTRIM(LTRIM(LEFT([Full Name], LEN([Full Name]) - CHARINDEX(' ', REVERSE([Full Name])))))

FROM ...

Note that this assumes [Full Name] has no spaces before or after the actual string. Otherwise, use RTRIM and LTRIM to remove these.