CAST()

Purpose

Function to convert the data type of an expression

Syntax

CAST(<exp> AS <expC>[(<expN1>[, <expN2>])] [NULL | NOT NULL])

See Also

DTOC(), DTOS(), ETOS(), LTOS(), MTOS(), STR()

Description

The CAST() function converts the expression in <exp> to the data type specified in <expC> and returns the result. The <expC> can be the full data type name, e.g. Character or supported abbreviation, e.g. C or Char. For data types requiring width and precision information, these are specified in <expN1> and <expN2> respectively.

Data Type Abbreviations

Abbreviations	Data Type	Width Required	Precision Required
B	TINYINT/DOUBLE	No	No
C, Char	CHARACTER	Yes	No
D	DATE	No	No
F	FLOAT	Yes	No, defaults to 0
G	LONG VARBINARY/GENERAL	No	No
I, Int	INTEGER	Yes	No, defaults to 0
L	LOGICAL/BIT	No	No
M	LONG VARCHAR/MEMO	No	No
N, Num	NUMERIC	Yes	No, defaults to 0
P	PACKED DECIMAL	Yes	No, defaults to 0
Q	QUAD	Yes	No, defaults to 0
R	REAL	Yes	No, defaults to 0
S	SHORT	Yes	No, defaults to 0
T	DATETIME	No	No
V	VAXDATE	No	No
Y	CURRENCY	No	No
Z	ZONED	Yes	No, defaults to 0

If the specified width, <expN1> is less than that of <exp>, the result will be truncated. If greater, the result will be padded. Precision may be lost if the precision specified in <expN2> is less than that of <exp>.

The optional NULL | NOT NULL determines whether null values are permitted or not.

Example

> m_var = "date"
> ? cast("12/12/2005" as (m_var))
12/12/2005
> open database southwind
> select cast(limit-balance as numeric(10,2)) from example