Postgres convert string to number full#

Postgres convert string to number full#

See Template Patterns & Modifiers for Numeric Formatting in PostgreSQL for a full list. These can also be used when formatting numeric values (for example when using the to_char() function to return a formatted string representation of the number). Postgres includes plenty more template patterns and modifiers. Full List of Template Patterns & Modifiers So to_number() was mainly designed for situations such as this one. I just wanna query the table and instead of the number return the corresponding string value. Result: ERROR: invalid input syntax for type numeric: '$7,000.25' SELECT cast('80' AS NUMERIC) īut we start to run into trouble once things get a bit more complex. So the first example on this page could have been done using cast(). It is therefore generally unnecessary for standard numeric representations. The to_number() function is provided mainly to handle input formats that cannot be converted by simple casting. Just to be clear, here it is again when compared to the correct template. So because I forgot to include the L template pattern (for the currency), this put the whole template out of sync with the number, which resulted in the G being ignored, as well as the D. Here’s an example of what happens if I simply forget to include the L template pattern from the earlier example. Otherwise you could end up with unexpected results. It’s important to get the template right. You can check the return type with the pg_typeof() function.

The return value of the to_number() function is numeric. The L template pattern represents a locale aware currency symbol. So the previous example could be rewritten as follows: SELECT to_number('7,000.25', '9G999D99') These are G for the group separator (thousands separator), and D for the decimal point. The second option is to use the locale-aware versions. The first option is to literally type out the comma and decimal point. When working with larger numbers and/or numbers with fractional seconds, you’ll need to include template patterns that specify the group separator and/or the decimal point. So it’s important to include the correct number of template patterns in the template. Here’s what happens if I remove one of the 9s. I used two, because I wanted both digits to be included. The 9 template pattern represents a digit position. Each 9 is referred to as a “template pattern”. Where the first argument is a string representation of the number, and the second argument defines the template that the first argument uses. The syntax goes like this: to_number(text, text)

More specifically, it converts the string representation of a number to a numeric value.įor example, if you have $1,234.50 as a string, you can use to_number() to convert that to an actual number that uses the numeric data type. In PostgreSQL, you can use the to_number() function to convert a string to a numeric value.