How to use Substr in query effectively for dynamic records

Question

There is a "INV_NM" Column as below in my Table INVENTORY

1000--200
10000--2000
900--100
2000--2200
70000--2100
700--700
4000--4000
2000--2000
500--1000
8000--750
6000--2000
100--1000

Its Synonym of DEPT--DIVISION

I want to fetch in my query only the DEPT as DEPT_NO in one column and DIVISION as DIVISION_NO in another column.

I can use substr(INV_NM,1,X)

But X is my confusion

Please help me on this regard

Answer 1

You could achieve the desired output with the following combination of substr() and instr() functions:

select substr(inv_nm, 1, instr(inv_nm, '-')-1)    as dept_no
     , substr(inv_nm, instr(inv_nm, '-', -1) + 1) as DIVISION_NO
  from inventory

Result:

DEPT_NO     DIVISION_NO
----------- -----------
1000        200         
10000       2000        
900         100         
2000        2200        
70000       2100        
700         700         
4000        4000        
2000        2000        
500         1000        
8000        750         
6000        2000        
100         1000        

12 rows selected 

SQLFiddle Demo