Part of string

Need help..
I need to select from a text field (lastname, firstname) the first part which is the last name. The format is exactly like the parenthesis. Any ideas?
Thanxtry this

select substring('last,first',1,charindex('first,last'))

i hav'nt checked it.. I think u may have to alter it a little|||Assuming there is always a comma

declare @.name char(30)
set @.name = 'GATES, BILL'
select left(@.name,charindex(',',@.name)-1)

returns

GATES|||Isn't this your lucky day? I just adapted and updated this function yesterday off of some old Access Basic code I had.

Call it like this: "Select dbo.FormatName([YourNameString], 'L')" and it should give you what you want. It handles names in multiple formats. If you find a name string it won't handle, let me know so I can update it.

create function FormatName(@.NameString varchar(100), @.NameFormat varchar(20))
returns varchar(100) as
begin
--blindman, 11/04
--FormatName decodes a NameString into its component parts and returns it in a requested format.
--@.NameString is the raw value to be parsed.
--@.NameFormat is a string that defines the output format. Each letter in the string represents
--a component of the name in the order that it is to be returned.
-- [H] = Full honorific
-- [h] = Abbreviated honorific
-- [F] = First name
-- [f] = First initial
-- [M] = Middle name
-- [m] = Middle initial
-- [L] = Last name
-- [l] = Last initial
-- [S] = Full suffix
-- [s] = Abbreviated suffix
-- [.] = Period
-- [,] = Comma
-- [ ] = Space

--Test variables
-- declare @.NameString varchar(50)
-- declare @.NameFormat varchar(20)
-- set @.NameFormat = 'L, h. F m. s.'
-- set @.NameString = 'Father Gregory Robert Von Finzer Jr'

Declare @.Honorific varchar(20)
Declare @.FirstName varchar(20)
Declare @.MiddleName varchar(30)
Declare @.LastName varchar(30)
Declare @.Suffix varchar(20)
Declare @.TempString varchar(100)
Declare @.IgnorePeriod char(1)

--Prepare the string
--Make sure each period is followed by a space character.
set @.NameString = rtrim(ltrim(replace(@.NameString, '.', '. ')))
--Eliminate double-spaces.
while charindex(' ', @.NameString) > 0 set @.NameString = replace(@.NameString, ' ', ' ')
--Eliminate periods
while charindex('.', @.NameString) > 0 set @.NameString = replace(@.NameString, '.', '')

--If the lastname is listed first, strip it off.
set @.TempString = rtrim(left(@.NameString, charindex(' ', @.NameString)))
if @.TempString in ('VAN', 'VON', 'MC', 'Mac', 'DE') set @.TempString = rtrim(left(@.NameString, charindex(' ', @.NameString, len(@.TempString)+2)))
if right(@.TempString, 1) = ',' set @.LastName = left(@.TempString, len(@.TempString)-1)
if len(@.LastName) > 0 set @.NameString = ltrim(right(@.NameString, len(@.NameString) - len(@.TempString)))

--Get rid of any remaining commas
while charindex(',', @.NameString) > 0 set @.NameString = replace(@.NameString, ',', '')

--Get Honorific and strip it out of the string
set @.TempString = rtrim(left(@.NameString, charindex(' ', @.NameString + ' ')))
if @.TempString in ('MR', 'MRS', 'MS', 'DR', 'Doctor', 'REV', 'Reverend', 'SIR', 'HON', 'Honorable', 'MAJ', 'Major', 'PVT', 'Private', 'FATHER', 'SISTER') set @.Honorific = @.TempString
if len(@.Honorific) > 0 set @.NameString = ltrim(right(@.NameString, len(@.NameString) - len(@.TempString)))

--Get Suffix and strip it out of the string
set @.TempString = ltrim(right(@.NameString, charindex(' ', Reverse(@.NameString) + ' ')))
if @.TempString in ('Jr', 'Sr', 'II', 'III', 'Esq', 'Junior', 'Senior') set @.Suffix = @.TempString
if len(@.Suffix) > 0 set @.NameString = rtrim(left(@.NameString, len(@.NameString) - len(@.TempString)))

if @.LastName is null
begin
--Get LastName and strip it out of the string
set @.LastName = ltrim(right(@.NameString, charindex(' ', Reverse(@.NameString) + ' ')))
set @.NameString = rtrim(left(@.NameString, len(@.NameString) - len(@.LastName)))
--Check to see if the last name has two parts
set @.TempString = ltrim(right(@.NameString, charindex(' ', Reverse(@.NameString) + ' ')))
if @.TempString in ('VAN', 'VON', 'MC', 'Mac', 'DE')
begin
set @.LastName = @.TempString + ' ' + @.LastName
set @.NameString = rtrim(left(@.NameString, len(@.NameString) - len(@.TempString)))
end
end

--Get FirstName and strip it out of the string
set @.FirstName = rtrim(left(@.NameString, charindex(' ', @.NameString + ' ')))
set @.NameString = ltrim(right(@.NameString, len(@.NameString) - len(@.FirstName)))

--Anything remaining is MiddleName
set @.MiddleName = @.NameString

--Create the output string
set @.TempString = ''
while len(@.NameFormat) > 0
begin
if @.IgnorePeriod = 'F' or left(@.NameFormat, 1) <> '.'
begin
set @.IgnorePeriod = 'F'
set @.TempString = @.TempString +
case ascii(left(@.NameFormat, 1))
when '72' then case @.Honorific
when 'Dr' then 'Doctor'
when 'Rev' then 'Reverend'
when 'Hon' then 'Honorable'
when 'Maj' then 'Major'
when 'Pvt' then 'Private'
else isnull(@.Honorific, '')
end
when '70' then isnull(@.FirstName, '')
when '77' then isnull(@.MiddleName, '')
when '76' then isnull(@.LastName, '')
when '83' then case @.Suffix
when 'Jr' then 'Junior'
when 'Sr' then 'Senior'
when 'Esq' then 'Esquire'
else isnull(@.Suffix, '')
end
when '104' then case @.Honorific
when 'Doctor' then 'Dr'
when 'Reverend' then 'Rev'
when 'Honorable' then 'Hon'
when 'Major' then 'Maj'
when 'Private' then 'Pvt'
else isnull(@.Honorific, '')
end
when '102' then isnull(left(@.FirstName, 1), '')
when '109' then isnull(left(@.MiddleName, 1), '')
when '108' then isnull(left(@.LastName, 1), '')
when '115' then case @.Suffix
when 'Junior' then 'Jr'
when 'Senior' then 'Sr'
when 'Esquire' then 'Esq'
else isnull(@.Suffix, '')
end
when '46' then case right(@.TempString, 1)
when ' ' then ''
else '.'
end
when '44' then case right(@.TempString, 1)
when ' ' then ''
else ','
end
when '32' then case right(@.TempString, 1)
when ' ' then ''
else ' '
end
else ''
end
if ((ascii(left(@.NameFormat, 1)) = 72 and @.Honorific in ('FATHER', 'SISTER'))
or (ascii(left(@.NameFormat, 1)) = 115 and @.Suffix in ('II', 'III')))
set @.IgnorePeriod = 'T'
end
set @.NameFormat = right(@.NameFormat, len(@.NameFormat) - 1)
end

-- select ltrim(rtrim(@.TempString))

Return @.TempString
end