The CAST function converts an expression to the requested datatype.
This function returns the datatype requested in the function.
CAST(expression AS datatype)
Required. An expression using SQL language that produces a value. A scalar expression is generally equivalent to a select item in the SQL SELECT statement, and can be a character expression, numeric expression or date expression.
Required. One of the datatypes listed below:
| Datatype | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| CHARACTER(n) | STRING | Space-filled character string of n characters |
| CHAR(n) | STRING | Synonym for CHARACTER(n) |
| STRING(n) | STRING | Null-terminated character string of n characters |
| VARCHAR(n)* | STRING | String of max n characters, with length variable |
| CLOB(n)* | STRING | Character large object of max n characters, with length variable |
| [SIGNED] TINYINT | NUMERIC | 1-byte, signed integer ( -128 to 127 ) |
| UNSIGNED TINYINT | NUMERIC | 1-byte, unsigned integer ( 0 to 255 ) |
| [SIGNED] SMALLINT | NUMERIC | 2-byte, signed integer ( -32768 to 32767 ) |
| UNSIGNED SMALLINT | NUMERIC | 2-byte, unsigned integer ( 0 to 65535 ) |
| [SIGNED] INTEGER | NUMERIC | 4-byte, signed integer ( 2147483648 to 2147483647 ) |
| UNSIGNED INTEGER | NUMERIC | 4-byte, unsigned integer ( 0 to 4294967295 ) |
| [SIGNED] BIGINT | NUMERIC | 8-byte, signed integer ( -2^63 to 2^63-1 ) |
| UNSIGNED BIGINT | NUMERIC | 8-byte, unsigned integer ( 0 to 2^64-1 ) |
| FLOAT | NUMERIC | IEEE four-byte, single-precision floating point |
| DOUBLE | NUMERIC | IEEE eight-byte, double-precision floating point |
| ANSI DATE | DATE | 10-byte ANSI date |
| ANSI TIME | DATE | 11-byte ANSI time |
| ANSI DATETIME | DATE | 24-byte ANSI datetime |
| ASCII DATE | DATE | 8-byte ASCII date ( YYYYMMDD ) |
| ASCII DATE(6) | DATE | 6-byte ASCII date ( YYMMDD ) |
| C DATETIME | DATE | 8-byte integer based on the C time() routine |
| ODBC DATE | DATE | 6-byte ODBC proprietary date |
| ODBC TIME | DATE | 6-byte ODBC proprietary time |
| ODBC DATETIME | DATE | 6-byte ODBC proprietary datetime |
| ORACLE DATE | DATE | 7-byte Oracle proprietary date |
| ORACLE TIME | DATE | 7-byte Oracle proprietary time |
| ORACLE DATETIME | DATE | 7-byte Oracle proprietary datetime |
| OMNIDEX DATE(n) | DATE | Omnidex proprietary date supporting n digits of YYYYMMDD |
| OMNIDEX TIME(n) | DATE | Omnidex proprietary time supporting n digits of HHMMSSNN |
| OMNIDEX DATETIME(n) | DATE | Omnidex proprietary datetime supporting n digits of YYYYMMDDHHMMSSNN |
| * Omnidex recommends use of the CHARACTER and STRING datatypes rather than VARCHAR and CLOB due to the requirement of a length variable. | ||
Omnidex also provides partial support for National Character Datatypes (sometimes called Unicode datatypes or wide characters). The Omnidex SQL Engine will process these datatypes, but the Omnidex Indexing Engine will only index the lower 8 bits of these datatypes.
| Datatype | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NATIONAL CHARACTER(n) | STRING | Space-filled character string of n characters |
| NATIONAL CHAR(n) | STRING | Synonym for CHARACTER(n) |
| NATIONAL STRING(n) | STRING | Null-terminated character string of n characters |
| NATIONAL VARCHAR(n)* | STRING | String of max n characters, with length variable |
| NATIONAL CLOB(n)* | STRING | Character large object of max n characters, with length variable |
| * Omnidex recommends use of the NATIONAL CHARACTER and NATIONAL STRING datatypes rather than NATIONAL VARCHAR and NATIONAL CLOB due to the requirement of a length variable. | ||
> select cast(individual as integer) ind from individuals; IND ----------- 900011022 900047761 900047762 900067115 900067114 900215567 900240828
See also: