Create first_name and last_name from full_name in a Rails migration

Question

I have a table (People) with a full name column, but want to split it into a first name (and initial if it exists) column and last name column.

It's a PostgreSQL database FWIW. I'm at the point of creating the columns, so it can all be done in the migration if that's possible. The names all fit the old standard American style, that is, no compound names or hyphens. No periods after the initials and some of the first names are initials only. This will be a one shot change, and then any new entries will be First and Last names in their separate fields. The full name field will be dropped.

Thanks for any help

Answer 1

You can do it like this in single migration

create two new columns

add_column :people, :first_name, :string
add_column :people, :last_name, :string

then

  full_names = People.all.map(&:full_name)

it return new array of full_name ['full_name','full_name1',..etc]

and then

full_names.each do |n| People.create(first_name:n.split('_')[0],
                                     last_name:n.split('_')[1])
end 

and remove full_name column

remove_column :people, :full_name 

Clumsy solution but should works