Converts an expression to another data type. The first argument is the target data type. The second argument is the expression to be converted to that type.

The length option for the data_type argument specifies the length for conversions to CHAR and VARCHAR data types. If omitted, the default is 30 bytes.

If the expression evaluates to NULL, the result of the function is NULL.

The CONVERT function syntax is similar to, but not compatible with, the ODBC CONVERT function. Enclose the function in the ODBC escape clause { fn } to specify ODBC‑compliant syntax. See the ODBC compatible CONVERT function for more information.

Syntax

CONVERT ( 'data_type [ ( length ) ]', expression )

Notes

When data_type is CHARACTER( length ) or VARCHAR( length ), the length specification represents the number of characters. The converted result can contain multi‑byte characters.

Example

The following SQL example uses the CONVERT function to convert an INTEGER field from a system table to a character string:

SELECT CONVERT('CHAR', fld), fld FROM sysprogress.syscalctable;
 CONVERT(CHAR,FLD)                FLD
-----------------                --- 
100                              100
 1 record selected
  SELECT CONVERT('CHAR(35)', fld), fld FROM sysprogress.syscalctable;
 CONVERT(CHAR(35),FLD)                FLD
---------------------                --- 
100                                  100
 1 record selected

Compatibility

Progress extension