PROCEDURE parse_name 
	(fullname_in IN VARCHAR2,
	 fname_out IN OUT caller.first_name%TYPE,
	 mname_out IN OUT caller.last_name%TYPE,
	 lname_out IN OUT caller.middle_name%TYPE)
/*
|| Note: comments are provided only for new elements of code.
*/
IS
   fullname_int VARCHAR2(255) := LTRIM (UPPER (fullname_in));
   delim_comma NUMBER := INSTR (fullname_in, ',');

   /* Location of the first and last space delimiters. */
   first_space NUMBER := INSTR (fullname_in, ' ');
   last_space  NUMBER;

BEGIN
   IF delim_comma = 0 AND first_space = 0
   THEN
		/* Just one word, so it all goes to the last name */
      lname_out := fullname_int;
      fname_out := NULL;
      mname_out := NULL;
   
   ELSIF delim_comma != 0
   THEN
		/* LAST, FIRST or FIRST MIDDLE format:
		|| Strip off last name, then do first and middle names
		*/ 
      lname_out := SUBSTR (fullname_int, 1, delim_comma-1);
      /*
      || Assign the remainder of the name to the first name.
      || If there are no more spaces, there is no middle name
      || and the first name will be the rest of the name.
      ||
      || Find the first space after the comma. I use LTRIM
      || to remove any leading blanks between the comma and
      || the first name.
      */
      fname_out := LTRIM (SUBSTR (fullname_int, delim_comma+1));
      first_space := INSTR (fname_out, ' ');
      IF first_space = 0
      THEN
         /* No space, so there is no middle name. */
         mname_out := NULL;
      ELSE 
         /* Split up the name into first and middle parts. */
         fname_out := SUBSTR (fname_out, 1, first_space-1);
         mname_out := SUBSTR (fname_out, first_space+1);
      END IF;
   
   ELSIF first_space != 0
   THEN
      /*
      || We have a "FIRST MIDDLE LAST" scenario. See if there is
      || another space, and make sure that there are non-blank
      || characters between the two blanks.  If this is the case,
      || we have a middle name. If not, just split up the name into 
      || first and last. Well? Didn't I say that names are 
      || complicated?
      */     
      last_space := INSTR (fullname_in, ' ', -1, 1);
      IF first_space = last_space
      THEN
         /* Just one space. Split name as in parse_name. */
         fname_out := SUBSTR (fullname_int, 1, first_space-1);
         lname_out := SUBSTR (fullname_int, 1, first_space+1);
      /*
      || Check to see if there is anything besides blanks between
      || the first and last names. The user might have typed:
      || "JOE    SHMO" just to play games with your program. You
      || don't want to look silly, so you make the effort and 
      || use RTRIM to squeeze out the blanks, leaving behind NULL
      || if that's all there was.
      */
      ELSE
         /*
			|| The hardest part about the middle name is that you have
         || to figure out its length. You need to subtract 1 from
         || the difference between last and first since the 
         || first_space locator is actually always an offset from
         || zero. For example:
         ||          Loc = 12345678901234567890
         ||       String = thelma hoke peterson
         ||   first_space (7) ||-^    ^||- last_space (12)
         ||       Length of middle name "Hoke" = 12 - 7 - 1 = 4
         */
         mname_out := 
				LTRIM (RTRIM 
							(SUBSTR (fullname_int, 
										first_space + 1, 
										last_space - first_space - 1)));

         /* Now the easy part. */
         fname_out := SUBSTR (fullname_int, 1, first_space - 1);
         lname_out := SUBSTR (fullname_int, last_space + 1);
      END IF;
   END IF;
END;