RE: SQL Update for part of a field.

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Jim Essinger
>
> Ok SQL gurus,
>
> I have a field that is very long, but I only want to update a part of the
> field.  The statment I have is this;
>
> update libname/filename
>   set substr(fieldname,2,3) = '225'
>  where substr(fieldname,1,1) in ('5', '8')

SQL doesn't allow updating a portion of a field.  Basically you have to
build the entire replacement string from snippets of the original field.

update libname/filename
  set fieldname = 
    substr(fieldname, 1, 1) concat
    '225' concat
    substr(fieldname, 5, nnn)
  where substr(fieldname,1,1) in ('5', '8')


Where nnn is the length of the substring minus four.

Joe