Question

I have a table column containing set of addresses as XML data:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<AddressBook>
   <Address>
      <ID>-1</ID>
      <AddressID>PRIMARY</AddressID>
      <FirstName>JOHN L.</FirstName>
      <LastName>JOHSON/JOHN L.</LastName>
      <StreetLine1>123 NOWHERE ST</StreetLine1>
      <City>OVERHERE</City>
      <StateName>CA</StateName>
      <StateCode>5</StateCode>
      <PostalCode>12345</PostalCode>
      <CountryName>United States</CountryName>
      <CountryCode>en-US</CountryCode>
      <PhoneNumber>5551231234</PhoneNumber>
      <PhoneNumber2>5551231234</PhoneNumber2>
      <TaxScheduleID>CA</TaxScheduleID>
      <ShowAddress>1</ShowAddress>
   </Address>
   <Address>
      <ID>-1</ID>
      <AddressID>SECONDARY</AddressID>
      <FirstName>SAM</FirstName>
      <LastName>LARSON/SAM</LastName>
      <StreetLine1>456 OVERHERE</StreetLine1>
      <City>NOTTHERE</City>
      <StateName>CA</StateName>
      <StateCode>5</StateCode>
      <PostalCode>54321</PostalCode>
      <CountryName>United States</CountryName>
      <CountryCode>en-US</CountryCode>
      <PhoneNumber>5553334444</PhoneNumber>
      <PhoneNumber2>5553334444</PhoneNumber2>
      <TaxScheduleID>CA</TaxScheduleID>
      <ShowAddress>1</ShowAddress>
   </Address>
</AddressBook>

My issues is that the last name element contains an unnecessary duplicate of the first named preceding with ‘/’ :

<FirstName>JOHN L.</FirstName>
<LastName>JOHSON/JOHN L.</LastName>

How can I remove the ‘/’ and every character following ‘/’ in the last name elements only to create an outcome as such?

<FirstName>JOHN L.</FirstName>
<LastName>JOHSON</LastName>

Answer 1

Try using charindex :

Select Left('JOHSON/JOHN L.', CHARINDEX('/', 'JOHSON/JOHN L.') - 1)