String Functions to extract first name initial and first 5 letters of last name

[weezerboy]

I am trying to extract the first letter of a firstname and the first 5 letters off a last name and concatate the two values

For example I have a data field with "John Smith" in the field.

I want to get the first letter of the first name -  "John" = J

I want to get the first 5 letters of the last name- "Smith" = smith

and then concatate the 2 values = jsmith

another example

For example I have a data field with "Reese Witherspoon" in the field.

I want to get the first letter of the first name -  "Reese" = R

I want to get the first 5 letters of the last name- "Witherspoon" = withe

and then concatate the 2 values = rwithe

How would I do that ?

I think I know how to do each step individually but is there a better way to get the value?

[WolfShade]

As long as first and last name are being submitted separately, it's simple.

concat = left(firstname,1) & left(lastname,5)

Pseudo-code, of course.

^_^

[WolfShade]

Actually, now that I think about it.. even if first and last name are in the same field or variable, as long as middle name/initial are not being used, you can still do it, simply.

fullname = "Reese Witherspoon";
concat = left(ListGetAt(fullname,1," ",true),1) & left(ListGetAt(fullname,2," ",true),5);

^_^

UPDATE: Minor modification.  This works as long as the last name isn't something like "Van Dyke" or "Van Zandt".  SOOOOOOOO, check the list length (with " " as delimiter) and if it's greater than two, join positions 2 through x together, removing all spaces.

fullname = "Dick Van George Jettson"; // It didn't like D y k e.. sigh..
thisLen = listLen(fullname," "); // 4
  
if (thisLen eq 2){
   concat = left(ListGetAt(fullname,1," ",true),1) & left(ListGetAt(fullname,2," ",true),5);
}
else {
   concat = left(ListGetAt(fullname,1," ",true),1);
   lastname = "";
   for(i = 2; i lte thisLen; i=(i+1)){
      lastname &= ListGetAt(fullname,i," ",true);
      }
    concat &= left(lastname,5);
}

[weezerboy]

This look like it works but was is the code exactly? I cant seem to get everything in the correct place

<CFSET fullname = "Dick Van George Jettson">; // It didn't like D y k e.. sigh..

<CFSET thisLen = listLen(fullname," ")>; // 4
 
<cfif (thisLen eq 2)>{
   concat = left(ListGetAt(fullname,1," ",true),1) & left(ListGetAt(fullname,2," ",true),5);
}
<cfelse> {
   concat = left(ListGetAt(fullname,1," ",true),1);
   lastname = "";
   for(i = 2; i lte thisLen; i=(i+1)){
      lastname &= ListGetAt(fullname,i," ",true);
      }
    concat &= left(lastname,5);
}

</cfif>

[WolfShade]

Part of the problem is I was writing in CFSCRIPT and you're trying tagform.

<CFSET fullname = "Dick Van George Jettson">
<CFSET thisLen = listLen(fullname," ")>
  
<cfif thisLen eq 2>
   <cfset concat = left(ListGetAt(fullname,1," ",true),1) & left(ListGetAt(fullname,2," ",true),5)>
<cfelse>
   <cfset concat = left(ListGetAt(fullname,1," ",true),1)>
   <cfset lastname = "">
   <cfloop index="idx" from="2" to="#thisLen#">
      <cfset lastname &= ListGetAt(fullname,i," ",true)>
      </cfloop>
    <cfset concat &= left(lastname,5)>
</cfif>
 
 <cfoutput>#concat#</cfoutput>

I hate this editor..

^_^