cvh@LE wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm afraid I need some help with a string manipulation function in
> mysql.
>
> Suppose I have a column which contains a comma-separated set of unique
> strings
> e.g.
>
> a,aab,b,bc,de
> c,de,dd,dfr
> xo,ff,fr
>
> I would like to retrieve the nth element of a set in the same simple
> way that find_in_set allows me retrieve the index of an element within
> the list/set
> e.g.
> mysql> SELECT FIND_IN_SET('c','a,b,c,d');
> +----------------------------+
> | FIND_IN_SET('c','a,b,c,d') |
> +----------------------------+
> | 3 |
> +----------------------------+
> 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
>
> what I want is a "reverse find_in_set lookup"
> like
> mysql>SELECT GETELEMENT_AT_INDEX_IN_SET(3.'a,b,c,d');
> ...
> answer would be
> +------------------------------------------------------+
> | GETELEMENT_AT_INDEX_IN_SET(3.'a,b,c,d');|
> +-------------------------------------------------------+
> | c |
> +----------------------------+
> 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
>
> (thats just made up)
>
> I ' ve found away to achieve this by using various string function but
> I'm quite sure there must be a better and more effective and simpler
> way:
>
> mysql> SELECT MID('a,b,c,d',
> length(substring_index('a,b,c,d',",",3)),
> length(substring_index('a,b,c,d',",",4))-
> length(substring_index('a,b,c,d',",",3))-1
> ) complicated;
> +-------------+
> | complicated |
> +-------------+
> | c |
> +-------------+
> 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
>
> I know I could store that into a function and have my own function to
> accomplish this rather nicely but isn't there a built in function to
> achieve this?
>
> Any hints or tips or reference I didnt find?
>
> TIA
>
> Chris
>
>
>
>

Normalize your database.

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Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
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