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Functions : Scalar functions : CONVERT
 

CONVERT

Syntax 

CONVERT (value_exp, data_type)

Description

The function returns the value specified by value_exp converted to the specified data type, where data_type is one of the following keywords:
• SQL_BIGINT
• SQL_BINARY
• SQL_BIT
• SQL_CHAR
• SQL_DATE
• SQL_DECIMAL
• SQL_DOUBLE
• SQL_FLOAT
• SQL_INTEGER
• SQL_LONGVARCHAR
• SQL_LONGVARBINARY
• SQL_NUMERIC
• SQL_REAL
• SQL_SMALLINT
• SQL_TIME
• SQL_TIMESTAMP
• SQL_TINYINT
• SQL_VARBINARY
• SQL_VARCHAR
• SQL_WCHAR
• SQL_WVARCHAR
• SQL_WLONGVARCHAR
The following table defines the precision, length, and scale of the resulting expression.
Table 16: Length, precision, and scale keywords of the CONVERT function 
Keyword
Length
Precision
Scale
SQL_BIGINT
8
20
0
SQL_CHAR
256
255
0
SQL_BINARY
256
255
0
SQL_BIT
1
1
0
SQL_DATE
6
10
0
SQL_DOUBLE
8
15
0
SQL_FLOAT
8
15
0
SQL_INTEGER
4
10
0
SQL_LONGVARBINARY
1000000
1000000
0
SQL_LONGVARCHAR
1000000
1000000
0
SQL_NUMERIC
32
34
5
SQL_SMALLINT
2
5
0
SQL_REAL
4
7
0
SQL_TIME
6
8
0
SQL_TIMESTAMP
16
 
0
SQL_TINYINT
1
3
0
SQL_VARBINARY
1024
1024
0
SQL_VARCHAR
1024
1024
0
SQL_WLONGVARCHAR
2000000
1000000
0
SQL_WVARCHAR
2048
1024
0
SQL_WCHAR
255
255
0
SQL_WVARCHAR
2048
1024
0

Example 

SELECT empno, CONVERT(empno, SQL_VARCHAR) FROM emp
SELECT empno, CONVERT(empno, SQL_SMALLINT) FROM emp