Perform regex (replace) in an SQL query

Question

What is the best way to replace all \'<\' with < in a given database column? Basically perform s/<[^;]/</gi

Notes

Answer 1

I think this can be done much cleaner if you use different STUFF :)

create table test
(
    id int identity(1, 1) not null,
    val varchar(25) not null
)

insert into test values ('< <- ok, < <- nok')

WHILE 1 = 1
BEGIN
    UPDATE test SET
        val = STUFF( val , PATINDEX('%<[^;]%', val) + 3 , 0 , ';' )
    FROM test
    WHERE val LIKE '%<[^;]%'

    IF @@ROWCOUNT = 0 BREAK
END

select * from test