How do I convert a full name to firstname lastname

Question

I need to parse some text that I have in a DB. I have over
5000 records to output, so I am hoping something will be
effiecient. However, it is a one time process, so it is not that
big of a deal.
I have a field 'fullName'. It contains a users full name (as
the name implies). I need to output this so that the 'firstName' is
in one field and the 'lastName' is in another field. The entries
range from 'Jim Smith' to 'John C. Dvorak Jr.' (not really John,
but I wanted to keep this interesting).
In the case of John, I need the first name and Middle initial
to end up in the 'firstName' field and everything else in the last
name field.
I tried to loop over using a space as the delimeter, but that
just sepeates everything into parts. I need the middle initial to
hang with the first name and anything trailing the last name to
remain there.
Any clever thoughts? Help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

ok, try this:
<cfoutput query="getUsers">
<cfset numelements = listlen(getUsers.fullName, "
")><!--- this will give you number of elements in fullName
--->
<cfif numelements is 2>
<cfset firstname = listfirst(getUsers.fullName, "
")><!--- assign first element to firstname --->
<cfset lastname = listlast(getUsers.fullName, "
")><!--- assign last (2nd) element to lastname --->
<cfelseif numelements gte 3><!--- 3 or more elements
in fullName --->
<cfset firstname = listgetat(getUsers.fullName, 1, " ")
& " " & listgetat(getUsers.fullName, 2, " ")><!---
assign elements 1 and 2 to firstname --->
<cfset lastname = right(getUsers.fullName,
len(getUsers.fullName) - len(firstname) - 1)><!--- assign the
rest of the string (less the space separating 2nd and 3rd elements
[the -1]) to lastname --->
<cfelse><!--- 0 or 1 elements in fullName --->
<cfset firstname = getUsers.fullName>
<cfset lastname = ''>
</cfif>
</cfoutput>