sql - getting text between parentheses

Question

I have text like this:

San Demetrio Corone (CS)
Villanova Tulo (NU)

I need to get the text between parentheses, I did this

SELECT SUBSTRING(a.place, CHARINDEX('(', a.place) + 1, CHARINDEX(')', a.place, CHARINDEX('(', a.place)+ 1)  - CHARINDEX(')', a.place) - 1)
FROM tab1 a

but I'm getting error about lenght parameter, what's wrong in that?

Answer 1

Your length input to SUBSTRING is off. The length should be the difference in position between the closing and opening parentheses, offset by one less.

SELECT
    place,
    SUBSTRING(place,
              CHARINDEX('(', place) + 1,
              CHARINDEX(')', place) - CHARINDEX('(', place) - 1) AS abbr
FROM tab1;

Demo