How to Extract First, Middle, and Last Names from a Name String in MySQL?

Extract first, middle and last name from name string in MySQL

Splitting a name string into its component parts (first name, middle name, last name) can be a useful task in data processing. In MySQL you can use several methods to achieve this:

Method 1 (first name, middle name, last name)

This method involves using a combination of SUBSTRING_INDEX() and IF() functions to extract individual names:

<code class="language-sql">SELECT
   SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(fullname, ' ', 1), ' ', -1) AS first_name,
   IF(LENGTH(fullname) - LENGTH(REPLACE(fullname, ' ', '')) > 1,
       SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(fullname, ' ', 2), ' ', -1), NULL) AS middle_name,
   SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(fullname, ' ', 3), ' ', -1) AS last_name
FROM registeredusers;</code>

In this query:

• SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(fullname, ' ', 1), ' ', -1) Extract names.
• IF(LENGTH(fullname) - LENGTH(REPLACE(fullname, ' ', '')) > 1, SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(fullname, ' ', 2), ' ', -1), NULL) Checks if the middle name exists and extracts it if present. If not present, the middle name is set to NULL.
• SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(fullname, ' ', 3), ' ', -1) Extract the last name.

Method 2 (first name, last name)

If you are only interested in first and last names, you can use a simpler query that uses the LOCATE() and TRIM() functions:

<code class="language-sql">SELECT
   SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(fullname, ' ', 1), ' ', -1) AS first_name,
   TRIM(SUBSTR(fullname, LOCATE(' ', fullname))) AS last_name
FROM registeredusers;</code>

In this query:

• SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(fullname, ' ', 1), ' ', -1) Extract names.
• TRIM(SUBSTR(fullname, LOCATE(' ', fullname))) extracts the part of the name after the first space, effectively giving you the last name.

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