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

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