Question

i need a MySql statement that returns a substring of 20 words, starting at word 35, from a mediumtext column.
Any ideas how this query would look like?

Answer 1

I would be inclined to agree with @RomanNewaza but this should do it.

This will get the first 55 words assuming a space is a safe word delimiter –

SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(field, ' ', 55) FROM tbl;

And this will get the last 20 words based on the same assumption –

SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(field, ' ', -20) FROM tbl;

So putting these two together you end up with –

SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(field, ' ', 55), ' ', -20) FROM tbl;