Extract email address from string using tsql

Question

I\'m trying to extract email addresses from an existing comments field and put it into its own column. The string may be something like this \"this is an example comment wit

Answer 1

You can search for '@' in the string. Then you get the string at the LEFT and RIGHT side of '@'. You then want to REVERSE the LEFT side and get first occurrence of ' ' then get the SUBSTRING from there. Then REVERSE it to get the original form. Same principle apply to the RIGHT side without doing REVERSE.

Example string: 'some text someemail@domain.org some text'

1. LEFT = 'some text someemail'
2. RIGHT = '@domain.org some text'
3. Reverse LEFT = 'liameemos txet emos'
4. SUBSTRING up to the first space = 'liameemos'
5. REVERSE(4) = someemail
6. SUBSTRING (2) up to the first space = '@domain.org'
7. Combine 5 and 6 = 'someemail@domain.org'

Your query would be:

;WITH CteEmail(email) AS(
    SELECT 'someemail@domain.org' UNION ALL
    SELECT 'some text someemail@domain.org some text' UNION ALL
    SELECT 'no email'
)
,CteStrings AS(
    SELECT
        [Left] = LEFT(email, CHARINDEX('@', email, 0) - 1),
        Reverse_Left = REVERSE(LEFT(email, CHARINDEX('@', email, 0) - 1)),
        [Right] = RIGHT(email, CHARINDEX('@', email, 0) + 1)
    FROM CteEmail
    WHERE email LIKE '%@%'
)
SELECT *,
    REVERSE(
        SUBSTRING(Reverse_Left, 0, 
            CASE
                WHEN CHARINDEX(' ', Reverse_Left, 0) = 0 THEN LEN(Reverse_Left) + 1
                ELSE CHARINDEX(' ', Reverse_Left, 0)
            END
        )
    )
    +
    SUBSTRING([Right], 0,
        CASE
            WHEN CHARINDEX(' ', [Right], 0) = 0 THEN LEN([Right]) + 1
            ELSE CHARINDEX(' ', [Right], 0)
        END
    )
FROM CteStrings

Sample Data:

email
----------------------------------------
someemail@domain.org
some text someemail@domain.org some text
no email

Result

---------------------
someemail@domain.org
someemail@domain.org

Answer 2

This one line would also work (a bit long line though lol):

--declare @a varchar(100) 
--set @a = 'a asfd saasd asdfgh@asd.com wqe z zx cxzc '
select substring(substring(@a,0,charindex('@',@a)),len(substring(@a,0,charindex('@',@a)))-charindex(' ',reverse(substring(@a,0,charindex('@',@a))))+2,len(substring(@a,0,charindex('@',@a)))) + substring(substring(@a,charindex('@',@a),len(@a)),0,charindex(' ',substring(@a,charindex('@',@a),len(@a))))

Answer 3

For strings that contain new line characters I modified Felix's answer using PATINDEX to search for the first control character rather than white space.

I also had to modify the Right field to subtract the correct amount of text.

    WITH CteEmail(email) AS(
        SELECT 'example string with new lines

    Email: some.example@email.address.com
(first email address - should be returned)

    Email: another@test.co.uk
(other email addresses should be ignored

more example text' UNION ALL
        SELECT 'Email: some.example@email.address.com' UNION ALL
        SELECT 'someemail@domain.org' UNION ALL
        SELECT 'some text someemail@domain.org some text' UNION ALL
        SELECT 'no email'
    )
    ,CteStrings AS(
        SELECT
            [Left] = LEFT(email, CHARINDEX('@', email, 0) - 1),
            Reverse_Left = REVERSE(LEFT(email, CHARINDEX('@', email, 0) - 1)),
            [Right] = RIGHT(email, LEN(email) - CHARINDEX('@', email, 0) + 1 )
        FROM CteEmail
        WHERE email LIKE '%@%'
    )
    SELECT *,
        REVERSE(
            SUBSTRING(Reverse_Left, 0, 
                CASE
                    WHEN PATINDEX('%[' + CHAR(10)+'- ]%', Reverse_Left) = 0 THEN LEN(Reverse_Left) + 1
                    ELSE PATINDEX('%[' + CHAR(0)+'- ]%', Reverse_Left)
                END
            )
        )
        +
        SUBSTRING([Right], 0,
            CASE
                WHEN PATINDEX('%[' + CHAR(0)+'- ]%', [Right]) = 0 THEN LEN([Right]) + 1
                ELSE PATINDEX('%[' + CHAR(0)+'- ]%', [Right])
            END
        )
    FROM CteStrings

Answer 4

DECLARE @t TABLE (row_id INT, email VARCHAR(100))

INSERT @t (row_id, email)
VALUES (1, 'drgkls<ivan@gvi.ru>, info@gvi.com, @ dgh507-16-65@'),
        (2, 'hjshfkjshfj@kjs.kjsehf herwfjewr@kjsd.com adjfhja@.com u3483dhj@hhb@.dfj'),
        (3, 'kjsdghfjs4254.23detygh@jhjdfg.dgb лдоврывплдоо isgfsi@ klsdfksdl@,dd.com')

DECLARE @pat VARCHAR(100) = '%[^a-z0-9@._ ]%';

WITH f AS (
         SELECT    row_id,
                 CAST(' ' + email + ' ' AS VARCHAR(102)) email,
                 SUBSTRING(email, PATINDEX(@pat, email), 1) bad,
                 PATINDEX(@pat, email) pat
         FROM    @t
         UNION ALL
         SELECT    row_id,
                 CAST(REPLACE(email, bad, ' ') AS VARCHAR(102)),
                 SUBSTRING(REPLACE(email, bad, ' '), PATINDEX(@pat, REPLACE(email, bad, ' ')), 1) bad,
                 PATINDEX(@pat, REPLACE(email, bad, ' '))
         FROM    f
         WHERE    PATINDEX(@pat, email) > 0
     ),
     s AS 
     (
         SELECT    row_id,
                 email, PATINDEX('%@%', email) pos 
         FROM    f 
         WHERE    pat = 0
                 AND    PATINDEX('%@%', email) > 0
         UNION ALL
         SELECT    row_id,
                 SUBSTRING(email, pos + 1, 102), 
                 PATINDEX('%@%', SUBSTRING(email, pos + 1, 102))
         FROM    s
         WHERE    PATINDEX('%@%', SUBSTRING(email, pos + 1, 102)) > 0
     )

SELECT  row_id, o1 + pp
FROM    s   
        CROSS APPLY (SELECT    REVERSE(LEFT(email, pos -1)) s1) x
        CROSS APPLY (SELECT    CHARINDEX(' ', s1) i1) y
        CROSS APPLY (SELECT    REVERSE(LEFT(s1, i1 -1)) o1 WHERE i1 > 0) z
        CROSS APPLY (SELECT    CHARINDEX(' ', email, pos) i2) e
        CROSS APPLY (SELECT    SUBSTRING(email, pos, i2 -pos) pp WHERE    i2 > pos + 1) q
WHERE    LEN(o1) > 1
        AND CHARINDEX('.', pp) > 0
        AND PATINDEX('%@%@%', pp) = 0
        AND PATINDEX('%@.%', pp) = 0
        AND PATINDEX('%.', pp) = 0

Answer 5

I know wewesthemenace already answered the question, but his/her solution seems over complicated. Why concatenate the left and right sides of the email address together? I'd rather just find the beginning and the end of the email address and then use substring to return the email address like so:

My Table

DECLARE @Table TABLE (comment NVARCHAR(50));
INSERT INTO @Table
VALUES ('blah MyEmailAddress@domain.org'),            --At the end
        ('blah MyEmailAddress@domain.org blah blah'), --In the middle
        ('MyEmailAddress@domain.org blah'),           --At the beginning
        ('no email');

Actual Query:

SELECT  comment,        
        CASE
            WHEN CHARINDEX('@',comment) = 0 THEN NULL
            ELSE SUBSTRING(comment,beginningOfEmail,endOfEmail-beginningOfEmail)
        END email
FROM @Table
CROSS APPLY (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ',comment + ' ',CHARINDEX('@',comment))) AS A(endOfEmail)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT DATALENGTH(comment)/2 - CHARINDEX(' ',REVERSE(' ' + comment),CHARINDEX('@',REVERSE(' ' + comment))) + 2) AS B(beginningOfEmail)

Results:

comment                                            email
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
blah MyEmailAddress@domain.org                     MyEmailAddress@domain.org
blah MyEmailAddress@domain.org blah blah           MyEmailAddress@domain.org
MyEmailAddress@domain.org blah                     MyEmailAddress@domain.org
no email                                           NULL

Answer 6

Stephan's answer is great when looking for a single email address in each row.

However, I was running into this error when trying to get multiple email addresses in each row:

Invalid length parameter passed to the LEFT or SUBSTRING function

I used this answer from DBA Stack Exchange to get all of the positions of @ inside the string. It entails a table-valued function that returns the number of positions equal to the number a certain pattern inside the string. I also had to modify the CROSS APPLY functions to handle multiple email addresses as well.

My Table:

DECLARE @Table TABLE (comment VARCHAR(500));
INSERT INTO @Table (comment)
VALUES ('blah blah My.EmailAddress@domain.org more blah someemailaddress@domain.com even more blah asdf@gmail.com'),
       ('blah hello.world@domain.org more'),
       ('no email')

Table-valued Function:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fnFindPatternLocation
(
    @string NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @term   NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
    RETURN 
    (
        SELECT pos = Number - LEN(@term) 
        FROM (SELECT Number, Item = LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@string, Number, 
        CHARINDEX(@term, @string + @term, Number) - Number)))
        FROM (SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY [object_id])
        FROM sys.all_objects) AS n(Number)
        WHERE Number > 1 AND Number <= CONVERT(INT, LEN(@string))
        AND SUBSTRING(@term + @string, Number, LEN(@term)) = @term
    ) AS y);
GO

Query:

SELECT comment, pos, SUBSTRING(comment,beginningOfEmail,endOfEmail-beginningOfEmail) AS email
FROM @Table
CROSS APPLY (SELECT pos FROM dbo.fnFindPatternLocation(comment, '@')) AS A(pos)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT CHARINDEX(' ',comment + ' ', pos)) AS B(endOfEmail)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT pos - CHARINDEX(' ', REVERSE(SUBSTRING(comment, 1, pos))) + 2) AS C(beginningOfEmail)

Results:

comment
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
blah blah My.EmailAddress@domain.org more blah someemailaddress@domain.com even more blah asdf@gmail.com
blah blah My.EmailAddress@domain.org more blah someemailaddress@domain.com even more blah asdf@gmail.com
blah blah My.EmailAddress@domain.org more blah someemailaddress@domain.com even more blah asdf@gmail.com
blah hello.world@domain.org more

---

pos    email
---    ------------------------------
26     My.EmailAddress@domain.org
64     someemailaddress@domain.com
95     asdf@gmail.com
17     hello.world@domain.org