Extracting Text from Middle of Data

[StrategyMan]

Hi Alteryx Community! I am trying to extract names from data that also includes information that I do not need, which is located to the left and right of the full name. As evidenced below:

Customer Name:                    JAMES SMITHS                                       Vehicle Number:                                 12345678

I would like to have the output extract, "FIRSTNAME LASTNAME" and remove all other information.

I have tried REGEX, Left() and Right(), but I cannot seem to find the solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

[danilang]

Hi @StrategyMan 

If your data is always of this form then this expression in a Regex Parse tool with output method set to Parse should work for you

.*?\s{2,}(.*?)\s{2,}

Break down

.*?   any number of characters non-greedy

\s{2,} 2 or more consecutive spaces

(.*?) any number of characters non-greedy.  this is only marked group so it will show up in the output

\s{2,} 2 or more consecutive spaces

Dan

[PhilipMannering · Accepted solution]

Looks like you could also use the GetWord() function,

The index is 0 based (ie first word is at position 0)

[StrategyMan]

@PhillipMannering and @danilang thank you both for the solutions. 

They both worked and were instrumental in getting this solved.

Much obliged!