CAST

You are viewing an old version of this article. View the current version here.

Syntax

CAST(expr AS type)

Description

The CAST() function takes a value of one type and produces a value of another type, similar to CONVERT(). See the description of CONVERT() for more information.

The main difference between the CAST() and CONVERT() is that CONVERT(expr,type) is ODBC syntax while CAST(expr as type) and CONVERT(... USING ...) are SQL92 syntax.

MariaDB starting with 5.5.31

Until MariaDB 5.5.31, X'HHHH', the standard SQL syntax for binary string literals, erroneously worked in the same way as 0xHHHH. In 5.5.31 it was intentionally changed to behave as a string in all contexts (and never as a number).

This introduces an incompatibility with previous versions of MariaDB, and all versions of MySQL (see the example below).

Examples

Simple casts:

SELECT CAST("abc" as binary);
SELECT CAST("1" as unsigned integer);

Using CAST() to order an ENUM field as a CHAR rather than the internal numerical value:

CREATE TABLE enum_list (enum_field enum('c','a','b'));

INSERT INTO enum_list (enum_field) VALUES('c'),('a'),('c'),('b');

SELECT * FROM enum_list ORDER BY enum_field;
+------------+
| enum_field |
+------------+
| c          |
| c          |
| a          |
| b          |
+------------+

SELECT * FROM enum_list ORDER BY CAST(enum_field AS CHAR);
+------------+
| enum_field |
+------------+
| a          |
| b          |
| c          |
| c          |
+------------+

From MariaDB 5.5.31, the following will trigger warnings, since x'aa' and 'X'aa' no longer behave as a number. Previously, and in all versions of MySQL, no warnings are triggered since they did erroneously behave as a number:

SELECT CAST(0xAA AS UNSIGNED), CAST(x'aa' AS UNSIGNED), CAST(X'aa' AS UNSIGNED);
+------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| CAST(0xAA AS UNSIGNED) | CAST(x'aa' AS UNSIGNED) | CAST(X'aa' AS UNSIGNED) |
+------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|                    170 |                       0 |                       0 |
+------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
1 row in set, 2 warnings (0.00 sec)

Warning (Code 1292): Truncated incorrect INTEGER value: '\xAA'
Warning (Code 1292): Truncated incorrect INTEGER value: '\xAA'

See Also

Comments

Comments loading...
Content reproduced on this site is the property of its respective owners, and this content is not reviewed in advance by MariaDB. The views, information and opinions expressed by this content do not necessarily represent those of MariaDB or any other party.