Extracting varried items from Name field

[ar013871 via AccessMonster.com]

Okay, here's what I'm running into. We have a HUGE CSV file whose data is
just not formatted in a good way. For example:

Smith,Joe
Smith, Joe
Smith\, Joe

All represent the same person, however, hase three different records. What
I'm wanting to do is run an Update statement that would make all the names be
formatted as Last,First with no space after the comma. Thoughts?

 

[fredg]

Okay, here's what I'm running into. We have a HUGE CSV file whose data is
just not formatted in a good way. For example:

Smith,Joe
Smith, Joe
Smith\, Joe

All represent the same person, however, hase three different records. What
I'm wanting to do is run an Update statement that would make all the names be
formatted as Last,First with no space after the comma. Thoughts?

And your version of Access is?

If your version of Access supports the replace function, you can use
an update query:

Update YourTable Set YourTable.[FieldName] =
Replace(Replace("\","",", ",""))

Be aware, that although the above will change all the field data to
LastName,FirstName as you requested, it is poor database design to
store both names in a single field. Create 2 new fields, LastName and
FirstName. Parse the data to the appropriate field. Look up the Split
function in VBA help.