Get first word in string containing '-' using T-SQL

Question

I'm trying to update a column in a table by inserting the first word (that has hyphen) in another column.  I'm trying this:
UPDATE DSoil
SET SoilName column = first word of MapUnit column (Only if the first word has '-' character).
Appreciate any help.
Marilyn Gambone

Answer 1

DECLARE @myTable TABLE (MapUnit Varchar(100), SoilName Varchar(100) Null)
INSERT INTO @myTable (MapUnit)
VALUES ('Test'), ('test-1'), ('-abc test')
UPDATE @myTable
SET SoilName = (CASE WHEN CHARINDEX('-', MapUnit) <> 0 THEN SUBSTRING(MapUnit, 1, (CASE WHEN CHARINDEX(' ', MapUnit) = 0 THEN LEN(MapUnit) ELSE CHARINDEX(' ', MapUnit) END)) ELSE SoilName END)
SELECT * FROM @myTable
--output
MapUnit SoilName
"Test" NULL
"test-1" test-1
"-abc test" -abc
Best Wishes, Arbi; Please vote if you find this posting was helpful or Mark it as answered.