Extracting a a piece of string starting with a number

Question

Hi,
I am new to SQL, so I could use some help with the following issue. I need to extract contract number from a string, but the position of the contract number and the text inside of the string might vary, which means it is important to tie the SELECT statement to the number. Extracting only numbers wouldn't help too, because contract number contains letters and other characters. For example, if there was a string "Payment to a contract nr 1100/70HE", the SELECT statement should be able to extract only "1100/70HE" from that string.
Thank you in advance,
Keit

Answer 1

Hi,
welcome to the forum.
Please read SQL and PL/SQL FAQ
When you put some code or output please enclose it between two lines starting with {noformat}{noformat}
i.e.:
{noformat}{noformat}
SELECT ...
{noformat}{noformat}
Coming to your question, I would say that extracting the contract number from a string it is not the ideal solution for a data model.
Beside that, you may be able to reach your goal by using regular expression but you should provide more example and explain if the contract number could be identified with a specific pattern.
I suggest you to post some sample data (CREATE TABLE and INSERT statement or a WITH statement) and try to identify a rule that can apply to extract your data.
I.e.: if contract number always is one or more characters, followed by a slash (/) and followed by one or more characters then maybe you can use regular expression to identify it. I suggest you to post some cases and try to find the logic to apply.
Regards.
Al