Split column string into multiple columns strings

Question

I have a entry in the table that is a string which is delimited by semicolons. Is possible to split the string into separate columns? I've been looking online and at stackoverflow and I couldn't find one that would do the splitting into columns.

The entry in the table looks something like this (anything in brackets [] is not actually in my table. Just there to make things clearer):

sysinfo [column]
miscInfo ; vendor: aaa ; bootr: bbb; revision: ccc; model: ddd [string a]
miscInfo ; vendor: aaa ; bootr: bbb; revision: ccc; model: ddd [string b]
...

There are a little over one million entries with the string that looks like this. Is it possible in mySQL so that the query returns the following

  miscInfo,   Vendor,   Bootr,  Revision ,  Model [columns]
miscInfo_a, vendor_a,  bootr_a, revision_a, model_a
miscInfo_b, vendor_b,  bootr_b, revision_b, model_b
...

for all of the rows in the table, where the comma indicates a new column?

Edit:

Here's some input and output as Bohemian requested.

sysinfo [column]
Modem <<HW_REV: 04; VENDOR: Arris ; BOOTR: 6.xx; SW_REV: 5.2.xxC; MODEL: TM602G>>

<<HW_REV: 1; VENDOR: Motorola ; BOOTR: 216; SW_REV: 2.4.1.5; MODEL: SB5101>>

Thomson DOCSIS Cable Modem <<HW_REV: 4.0; VENDOR: Thomson; BOOTR: 2.1.6d; SW_REV: ST52.01.02; MODEL: DCM425>>

Some can be longer entries but they all have similar format. Here is what I would like the output to be:

miscInfo, vendor, bootr, revision, model [columns]
    04,   Arris,  6.xx, 5.2.xxC, TM602G
    1, Motorola, 216, 2.4.1.5, SB5101
  4.0, Thomson, 2.1.6d, ST52.01.02, DCM425

FYI, it's "thanks in advance". No trailing "d". That seems to be a very popular error. — Lightness Races in Orbit, Jul 26 '11 at 00:17
"thanksd"? Anyway, OP: Make sure your data model is normalised, and don't reimplement your own pet database inside a database column. — Kerrek SB, Jul 26 '11 at 00:19
Could you please show *exact* input and *exact* expected output? For example, does `vendor: aaa` really become `vendor_a`? — Bohemian, Jul 26 '11 at 00:46
@Bohemian, I updated my original post to include 3 actual entries in my DB and what I would like the result to be. Thanks! — Christopher, Jul 26 '11 at 16:50

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Please take a look at how I've split my coordinates column into 2 lat/lng columns:

UPDATE shops_locations L 
LEFT JOIN shops_locations L2 ON L2.id = L.id
SET L.coord_lat = SUBSTRING(L2.coordinates, 1, LOCATE('|', L2.coordinates) - 1), 
L.coord_lng = SUBSTRING(L2.coordinates, LOCATE('|', L2.coordinates) + 1)

In overall I followed UPDATE JOIN advice from here MySQL - UPDATE query based on SELECT Query and STR_SPLIT question here Split value from one field to two

Yes I'm just splitting into 2, and SUBSTRING might not work well for you, but anyway, hope this helps :)

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 26 '11 at 00:27

0

You could make use of String functions (particularly substr) in mysql: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/string-functions.html

answered Jul 26 '11 at 00:27

Ashok

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Substr requires start and end index. The problem with this is that the ';' is not always in the same index in the string. For an example see my edit above. The first column should explain what I mean. – Christopher Jul 26 '11 at 16:16

Split column string into multiple columns strings

2 Answers2

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