T-SQL Compare two Strings and remove duplicates between them
I have a web search function that takes a first and last name and searches it against a full text catalog of names. The issue I'm having is that I need to compare both strings and remove duplicate words between them without permanently concatenating them. It doesn't matter which string is the reference and which is the target.
INPUT:
FIRSTNAME: Jean ValJean
LASTNAME: Smith Jean
DESIRED RESULT:
FIRSTNAME: Jean ValJean
LASTNAME: Smith
-or-
FIRSTNAME: ValJean
LASTNAME: Smith Jean
Thanks!
INPUT:
FIRSTNAME: Jean ValJean
LASTNAME: Smith Jean
DESIRED RESULT:
FIRSTNAME: Jean ValJean
LASTNAME: Smith
-or-
FIRSTNAME: ValJean
LASTNAME: Smith Jean
Thanks!
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SOLUTION
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ASKER
I actually ended up taking care of it by listing both strings into a table variable and then doing a select distinct. Thank you both - I'm assigning the points half and half.
declare @FIRSTNAME nvarchar(100), @LASTNAME nvarchar(100), @NEWFIRSTNAME nvarchar(100), @NEWLASTNAME nvarchar(100)
declare @F1 nvarchar(50),@F2 nvarchar(50),@L1 nvarchar(50),@L2 nvarchar(50)
set @FIRSTNAME= 'Jean ValJean'
SET @LASTNAME= 'Smith Jean'
SET @F1=SUBSTRING(@FIRSTNAME, 1, CHARINDEX(' ', @FIRSTNAME) - 1)
SET @F2=SUBSTRING(@FIRSTNAME, CHARINDEX(' ', @FIRSTNAME) + 1, LEN(@FIRSTNAME))
SET @L1=SUBSTRING(@LASTNAME, 1, CHARINDEX(' ', @LASTNAME) - 1)
SET @L2=SUBSTRING(@LASTNAME, CHARINDEX(' ', @LASTNAME) + 1, LEN(@LASTNAME))
if (@F1=@L2)
BEGIN
SET @NEWLASTNAME=@L1
--@NEWFIRSTNAME=@F2
END
PRINT @NEWLASTNAME