CAST

Type conversion. TRY_CAST and SAFE_CAST are the non-raising forms - they yield NULL where CAST raises.

Category: Conversion Functions

CAST is SQL syntax rather than a function, so it is documented with the expressions; this page is a pointer.

Syntax

sql

CAST(expr AS type)
TRY_CAST(expr AS type)
SAFE_CAST(expr AS type)
CAST(expr AS type FORMAT 'pattern')
expr::type

Notes

A literal operand is converted at plan time. Parameterised targets take their parameters through the cast's parameter channel: CAST(x AS ARRAY<VARCHAR>), CAST(x AS DECIMAL(p, s)). FORMAT takes a SQL-style pattern (YYYY-MM-DD, HH24:MI) for parsing a string to DATE or TIMESTAMP and for rendering DATE, TIMESTAMP or INTERVAL to VARCHAR; it is only accepted inside CAST(), not with ::.

Details

Type Casting — CAST, ::, TRY_CAST and SAFE_CAST
Data Types — each type page has a Casting table of what converts to and from it
Parsing and rendering with an explicit format — CAST(... FORMAT ...) and the format elements