[plug] [OT] SQL column splitting

[Bret Busby]

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004, James Devenish wrote:

> 
> Does anyone know of a non-horrific way to do this fairly portably in
> SQL? My mind seems to be blank on the matter at the moment.
> 
> 

Two questions appear pertinent here.

The first, is what is the backend? What is the RDBMS that is used to 
store the existing data? The syntax and the functionality vary, between 
the different RDBMS's, and, for example,  what may work with PostgreSQL, 
might not work with MySQL, or, may need to use different syntax.

The second, is what is the need for "fairly portably in SQL"? Are you 
looking at using ODBC, with something like an MS-Access frontend? 
Generally, each SQL version has its limitations and variations (eg, 
string and date handling differences between MS-Access and Oracle), so, 
depending on the details, the "portability" may be an unnecessary 
whistles and bells item (why put in the extra effort and complexity, to 
use strictly generic SQL, when what you are running, may have only one 
version of SQL (eg, MS-Access SQL, PL/SQL, or PgSQL, that has 
functionality that may do the job with less effort and complexity, than 
trying to write SQL code that will run on any RDBMS platform) ?).

For both of my points above, to me, the query above, is a bit like 
saying "how can I do this using a 3GL?". Each 3GL has different syntax 
and functionality (although, FORTAN-90 and later, is more like C, than 
FORTRAN-77 and FORTRAN-4). Due to the variations in functionality (apart 
from the syntactical differences), the solution design may need to 
differ, according to the platform.

Those are my thoughts about the first sentence above, that refers to 
"fairly portable" SQL.

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of 
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
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  published by Pan Books, 1992 
....................................................