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CAST

Example

Convert a value to the DATE data type.

SELECT CAST(“2017-08-29” AS DATE);

Definition and Usage

The CAST() function converts a value of any type into the specified data type.

Tip: You may also consider using the CONVERT() function for similar conversions.

Syntax

CAST(value AS datatype)

Parameter Values

Parameter

Description

value

Required: The value that will be converted to the specified data type.

datatype

Required: The data type to which the value will be converted, which can be any of the following options:

 

value

description

DATE

Transforms a value into a DATE format: “YYYY-MM-DD”.

DATETIME

Transforms a value into the DATETIME format: “YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM

“.

DECIMAL

Converts a value to a DECIMAL format, allowing specification of the maximum number of digits (M) and the number of digits after the decimal point (D).

TIME

Transforms a value into the TIME format: “HH:MM

“.

CHAR

Converts a value into a fixed-length string format (CHAR).

NCHAR

Converts a value into an NCHAR format, which produces a string using the national character set.

SIGNED

Converts a value into a SIGNED format, specifically a signed 64-bit integer.

UNSIGNED

Converts a value into an UNSIGNED format, specifically an unsigned 64-bit integer.

BINARY

Converts a value into a BINARY format, representing it as a binary string.

Technical Details

Works in:

 From MySQL version 4.0

More Examples

Example

Converts a value into the CHAR datatype.

SELECT CAST(150 AS CHAR);

Example

Converts a value into the TIME datatype.

SELECT CAST(“14:06:10” AS TIME);

Example

Converts a value to a datatype that is signed.

SELECT CAST(510 AS SIGNED);