Sorting text field based on 2nd word in field

[ThornPCC]

Hi,<br>
<br>
I have a database that has a persons name in one field. It's in first name last name order. I need to print the list in last name order. I don't want to break up the field if I can avoid it. Most of my reports are sorted on a different field, but 3 reports will use the last name.<br>
Did I mention that I import the data from a DBF file every morning? So short of designing a query to break up the field after import, I'm slightly baffled.<br>
<br>
Thanks. <p>Phil<br><a href=mailto:Thorn@full-moon.com>Thorn@full-moon.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>Most of us go through life not knowing what we want, but feeling damned sure that this isn't it.<br>

 

[DougP]

NO there is no easy way or function.<br>
If of example you need to print them in Last name, First name it can still be done.<br>
It is easier to assemble data i.e. Add the last name to the first name and a comma than to dis-assemble it.<br>
<br>
Because of the following reasons.<br>
Some people have periods in their names Jr. Sr. Dr.<br>
Some names are <br>
J.T. Smith <br>
James T. Smith<br>
and you can come up with more.<br>
So it is difficult to write a bunch of IF statements for every conceivable name.<br>

 

[ThornPCC]

I have thought of a way to do this. I must have been suffering from a temporary blockage. I have a table that contains the employee's names and addresses as well as employee number. The table I'm printing from has the employee number as well. I can build a query to lookup the names based on employee number.<br>
<br>
DOH !!!!!<br>
<br>
Thanks for the quick reply. <p>Phil<br><a href=mailto:Thorn@full-moon.com>Thorn@full-moon.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>Most of us go through life not knowing what we want, but feeling damned sure that this isn't it.<br>

 

[Zelandakh]

I used to keep a table of all actors in every film known to my database. With 16,000 films I had a LOT of actors. They were all listed in firstname lastname order and someone wanted an index by surname order.<br>
<br>
Use find to check if there is a space in the string. If there are 0 or 2 spaces return empty string or &quot;ZZZ name&quot; or whatever, otherwise put right(name(find(&quot; &quot;,name)+1,len(name)&&quot;, &quot;&left(name,find(&quot; &quot;,name)-1) or thereabouts.<br>
<br>
It's not the fastest query in the world though, but I ran it successfuly on a 486SX25...