howto strip more then 1 string in 1 statement

[ts24]

I have to strip several strings like <br />, <strong>, <b> etc. in a field

 

Now I use:

replace(SUBSTRING(products_description.products_description,1, 400), '<br />', ' ') AS description,

 

But how can I strip more then 1 string in 1 statement?

[fenway]

If only mysql supported proper regex capturing parentheses... in the meanwhile, you'll have to nest your replaces:

 

replace( replace( col1, 'old', 'new' ), 'old2', 'new2' )

[ts24]

With more then 15 strings it is not the real solution.

Can I do it within a case statement?

[fenway]

You'd still have to list all 15 old/new values... there is no "real" solution, mysql wasn't meant to do string manipulation.  Why do it in mysql anyway? HTML Tidy can handle this for you.

[ts24]

I have to do this because it is a direct manual query to the table for export data into a feed file for external usage.

Not within our shop, but a direct MYSQL interface to export the data.

[fenway]

If that's the case, then just run the nested replace()... that's the best you can do... unless you write a UDF and run it on insert/update and store the cleaned value in another field.