Replacing values in a nvarchar(50) column

Question

I have a column in my SQL Server table that is a nvarchar(50). I'm looking for a way to replace values in the column.

So for example, This is my column with the original values:

What I want is for each value to equal the following value:

I can get this working with a replace function, however it then moves it to a new column for each value I'm replacing. Ideally what I would like is to have a single column with my new changes.

I cannot use the update function as I only have read access to this table.

Any info would be great.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Sample data

create table MyTable
(
  Task nvarchar(50)
);

insert into MyTable (Task) values
('VLV LOADING/RELEASE 1st DS'),
('VLV LOADING/RELEASE 2nd DS'),
('VLV LOADING/RELEASE 3rd DS'),
('VLV LOADING/RELEASE 1st DS'),
('VLV LOADING/RELEASE 2nd DS'),
('VLV LOADING/RELEASE 3rd DS');

Solution

Option 1

Using a case expression.

select case mt.Task
         when 'VLV LOADING/RELEASE 1st DS' then 'Proximal Release Force-S'
         when 'VLV LOADING/RELEASE 2nd DS' then 'Proximal Release Force-L'
         when 'VLV LOADING/RELEASE 3rd DS' then 'Proximal Release Force-M'
       end as Task
from MyTable mt;

Option 2

In case the replacement values are available in another table, then use a join.

create table Task
(
  Id int,
  Task nvarchar(50),
  Description nvarchar(50)
);

insert into Task (Id, Task, Description) values
(10, 'VLV LOADING/RELEASE 1st DS', 'Proximal Release Force-S'),
(11, 'VLV LOADING/RELEASE 2nd DS', 'Proximal Release Force-M'),
(12, 'VLV LOADING/RELEASE 3rd DS', 'Proximal Release Force-L');

select t.Description as Task
from MyTable mt
join Task t
  on t.Task = mt.Task;

Result

Task
------------------------
Proximal Release Force-S
Proximal Release Force-M
Proximal Release Force-L
Proximal Release Force-S
Proximal Release Force-M
Proximal Release Force-L

Fiddle to see things in action.