SQL : Multiple String Replace (Add a space in front of capital letter(s) starting with 2nd capital letter)

Question

I've updated the Name_Table.column_2 data with wrong strings. Instead of 'John Smith',I've updated with 'JohnSmith' .

Now i would like to replace multiple strings,For Example : 'JohnSmith' as 'John Smith' , 'JohnDoe' as 'John Doe' etc.

I'm not familiar with SQL , can some one help me on how to replace multiple strings all at once.

#Name_Table

Column_1      Column_2
1             JohnSmith
2             JohnSmith
3             JohnDoe
4             JohnSmith
5             WayneRooney
6             JohnDoe
7             WayneRooney
8             JohnSmith
9             WayneRooney
10            JohnDoe

Answer 1

I dont know single query for this situation, but try below method to solve your problem. I'm sure it works fine for you.

$sel = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM Name_Table;');
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($sel)){
    $string = $row['Column_2'];
    $count = strlen($string);
    $strings = array();
    $i = 0;
    $ii = 0;

    while($i < $count)
    {
        $char = $string{$i};
        if(ereg("[A-Z]", $char, $val)){
            $ii++;
            $s = '';
            $s .= $char;
        } else {
            $s .= $char;
        }
        $strings[$ii] = $s;
        $i++;
    }
    $name_with_space = implode(' ',$strings);
    mysql_query('UPDATE Name_Table SET Column_2="'.$name_with_space.'" WHERE Column_1='.$row['Column_1']);
}

Answer 2

if your names are always gonna be in the format of FirstnameLastname you can do a custom function like this

CREATE FUNCTION breakup_name (fullname varchar(50))
RETURNS VARCHAR(50)
BEGIN
  SET @fullname = fullname,@newname='',@letter='',@capcount=0,@space='';
  WHILE LENGTH(@fullname)>0 DO
    SET @letter = LEFT(@fullname,1);
    SET @space = '';
    IF @letter RLIKE BINARY '[A-Z]' THEN
      SET @capcount = @capcount+1;
      IF @capcount >= 2 THEN SET @space = ' '; END IF;
    END IF;
    SET @newname = CONCAT(@newname,@space,@letter);
    SET @fullname = RIGHT(@fullname,LENGTH(@fullname)-1);
  END WHILE;
  RETURN @newname;
END/

then use an UPDATE like this.

UPDATE table1 SET column_2 = breakup_name(column_2);

sqlfiddle

PS In the sqlfiddle I used / as delimiter, you'll have to change that according to your delimiter.

The above function will add a space in front of a capital letters (starting with the 2nd capital letter), so for example if you had TommyJaeSmith , it'll return Tommy Jae Smith .

The logic of this function is very simple, it loops through and looks at each letter. If the letter is a capital letter it increments a capcount, if the capcount is greater than or equal to 2 (meaning 2nd capital letter or after) it adds a space... to be concatenated in front of the letter.