Question

I have a MySQL table with over 3 million rows that includes peoples names and the state they are from e.g. “Smith (SC)” I would like to remove the state info and have “Smith”. Since there are many difference last names and states used I was wondering if there was any trick to make this easier and just remove the parentheses and the text contained inside of them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Test with a select to make sure you’re getting good results:

SELECT LastName, LEFT(LastName, LOCATE('(', LastName) - 1) AS CorrectedLastName
    FROM YourTable
    WHERE LOCATE('(', LastName) <> 0

Once you’re confident in the results:

UPDATE YourTable
    SET LastName = LEFT(LastName, LOCATE('(', LastName) - 1)
    WHERE LOCATE('(', LastName) <> 0