Question

I have a problem i’m not sure how to solve.

To simplify my problem there is a table with links:

    fk  linkid   link
    1   1     www.stackoverflow.com
    1   2     www.google.com
    1   3     www.cnn.com
    2   4     www.other.com

Then i have another table with a string-column where a user can insert these keys and then it should replace them. You enter a key like L{a number}, like L1. “L1” should then be replaced with linkid 1..

    id  string_column
    1   "Hi my first link is {L1]. More text {L1} {L1} {L3} {L2}"
    2   "Go here: {L4}"

So when i join them for id 1 i get this:

    id  linkid  link                   string_column
    1   1       www.stackoverflow.com  "Hi my first link is {L1]. More text {L1} {L1} {L3} {L2}"
    1   2       www.google.com         "Hi my first link is {L1]. More text {L1} {L1} {L3} {L2}"
    1   3       www.cnn.com            "Hi my first link is {L1]. More text {L1} {L1} {L3} {L2}"

What i would like to get is:

    id  string_column
    1   "Hi my first link is www.stackoverflow.com. More text www.stackoverflow.com www.stackoverflow.com www.cnn.com www.google.com"

Is it possible in mysql to write such an sql?
As you can see above i need to make a replace on 1 column but get the values from multiple rows and then only return 1 per id.

Since the system is already the way it is i can’t change the setup but just have to find a way to get this right.

Answer 1

the only way I see to do this would be a script doing the work, where you take out all the sentences, cut the number from the L, search the corresponding link and replace all {L1} by that link. then you update the db with the new string.