i still think the best way for this kind of text processing (cleanup) is creating a Regular Expression CLR function and then invoking it on the whole field:

C# code for...

Dan,

tried your

declare

@vat varchar(55)

set

@vat='1233%%%456'

print

...

this kind of task needs to be handled by a regular expression, there is no other way in my opinion. In SQL 2005 u can write a CLR function that  would...

sorry for misprint:

select CUST + ' - ' + FORM as NEWFIELD from dbo.TableName

select CUST + ' - ' + FORM as NEWFIELD from dbo.DataBase

it's for .NET 2.0/SQL 2005:

create  a CLR function that would take a str like "$100' as a input parameter. Next:

1.  process the str: get rid of $ and a dot; IF...

did u try to import it to Access, modify it there, and then imort it into SQL Server? Why do u need these 2 steps : Access => text => SQL...

probably needs to change datatype of a bunch of columns in a table in one step.

the problem is the data is coming from all directions and it's never of the same structure. I'm talking about text processing.

what about a situation when the data is coming from outside ( say as some lousy ecxel file) and u just need to run a quick stats on it (seems...

ADO.NET rocks

Q to Farrell:

pls explain what's going to happen it a delimiter pattern changes from ', ' to say ' , ' in some parts of the text? WIll yr code still...

i'd do it like this:

1. read yr orig SQL tbl into a DataSet, then to Table object (ADO.NET)

2. use RegEx object to match all occurrences of yr targeted strings ('dog'...

--Warning: do not work with yr original table, b/c the Q will change the -----data in it; instead work with a copy of the table

--try:

update dbo.Activity_COPY

set description = description +...

if like u said

"""The only common data relationship I have

between the 2 tables is:

TBL_A ID          = 349408

TBL_B OrderItemID = 349408 """ 

then u cannot...