I have a MySQL file that is filled with information on the different
woods of the world.
In one column for the botanical species names, some of the first
characters in each
record are not capitalized when they should all be while many are
properly capitalized.
I need to correct this. The database is "TAXA". The column is "species_name".
I have been using SQL statements through both phpMyAdmin and
MySQL-front as front ends to the database. I get part way ok but need
others help to understand why the final
step does not work as follows:
..........................................................................................................................
This statement faithfully reports the first character in the
species_name field:
SELECT UCASE(LEFT(species_name, 1)) from species;
This statement faithfully produces all other characters after the first
one in the specie_name field:
SELECT RIGHT(species_name, LENGTH(species_name)-1) FROM species;
When I run both together, there is no error:
SELECT UCASE(LEFT(species_name, 1)) FROM species;
SELECT RIGHT(species_name, LENGTH(species_name)-1) FROM species;
When I finally try to concatenate the first character back together
with the rest of the species name, it does not work:
SELECT CONCAT(
UCASE(LEFT(species_name, 1)) FROM species,
RIGHT(species_name, LENGTH(species_name)) FROM species
);
Instead, I get an error near FROM species, RIGHT(species_name,
LENGTH(species_name)) FROM species
I know I must be close but cannot find out why this is not just working.
Also, when it finally reports the full species names correctly, does
it matter if I add in a SET statement to finally
replace the old entries or should I use an UPDATE command instead of
SELECT? Does it matter?
I look forward to your suggestions.
Bill Mudry
