Question

I have a table with 3 address fields and each address field has a limit of 100 characters each.

I need to create a query to make the maximum character limit for each address field to be 30 characters long. If one address field is > 30 then I’ll cut off the rest, but take the remainder and concatenate it onto the beginning of the next address field. I would do this until the last address field (address3) is filled up and then just get rid of the remainder on the last address field.

Is there a way to do this with an SQL query or with T-SQL?

Answer 1

I think I’d go with the problem description, and write something that’s “obviously” correct (provided I’ve understood your spec :-))

/* Setup data - second example stolen from Abe, first just showing that it works with short enough data */
declare @t table (ID int not null,Address1 varchar(100) not null,Address2 varchar(100) not null,Address3 varchar(100) not null)
insert into @t (ID,Address1,Address2,Address3)
values (1,'abc','def','ghi'),
(2,'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456789 ', 'second part', 'third part')

/* Actual query - shift address pieces through the address fields, but only to later ones */
;with Shift1 as (
    select
        ID,SUBSTRING(Address1,1,30) as Address1,SUBSTRING(Address1,31,70) as Address1Over,Address2,Address3
    from @t
), Shift2 as (
    select
        ID,Address1,SUBSTRING(Address1Over+Address2,1,30) as Address2,SUBSTRING(Address1Over+Address2,31,70) as Address2Over,Address3
    from Shift1
), Shift3 as (
    select
        ID,Address1,Address2,SUBSTRING(Address2Over+Address3,1,30) as Address3
    from Shift2
)
select * from Shift3

Result:

ID            Address1                          Address2                          Address3
----------- ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------
1           abc                                 def                                ghi
2           abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234   56789 second part                 third part