Sql question. I need to return a value to the left of the '-'.

Question

Return a value to the left of the '-' if its there. Example 20048 would return 20048 and 20048-34 would return 20048.

Answer 1

Assuming you used varchar (or its variant) for storing the number, I suggest you to add the DBMS involved in "Relevant Tags", surely you understand, different DBMS has different ways/syntax for handling text/string alike data.

My idea for the issue however, is to use a function that searches and returns the position of a certain character within a string data, if you can find one suitable for your DBMS, you'll get your solution.