CAST

Complete CAST reference for MariaDB. Complete function guide with syntax, parameters, return values, and usage examples with comprehensive examples and best.

Syntax

CAST(expr AS type)

Description

The CAST() function takes a value of one data type and produces a value of another data type, similar to the CONVERT() function.

The type can be one of the following values:

BINARY
CHAR
DATE
DATETIME
DECIMAL
DOUBLE
FLOAT
INTEGER (short for SIGNED INTEGER )
SIGNED [INTEGER]
UNSIGNED [INTEGER]
TIME
VARCHAR
XMLTYPE (Available starting with MariaDB 12.3)

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

To cast a value to a string data type while specifying the character set, use this extended syntax:

 CAST(expr AS CHAR CHARACTER SET name)

See the examples for casting to character sets.

Using an introducer like _utf8mb4'text' is often more efficient than CAST('text' AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8mb4), but CAST is necessary when converting data types (like numbers to strings) into a specific encoding. See this example, too.

You can use the CAST() function with the INTERVAL keyword.

This introduced 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);
SELECT CAST(123 AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8)

When you casts to CHAR without specifying the character set, the collation_connection character set collation is used. When used with CHAR CHARACTER SET, the default collation for that character set is used.

SELECT COLLATION(CAST(123 AS CHAR));
+------------------------------+
| COLLATION(CAST(123 AS CHAR)) |
+------------------------------+
| latin1_swedish_ci            |
+------------------------------+

SELECT COLLATION(CAST(123 AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8));
+-------------------------------------------------+
| COLLATION(CAST(123 AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8)) |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| utf8_general_ci                                 |
+-------------------------------------------------+

If you also want to change the collation, you have to use the COLLATE operator:

SELECT COLLATION(CAST(123 AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8) 
  COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci);
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| COLLATION(CAST(123 AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci) |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| utf8_unicode_ci                                                         |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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          |
+------------+

The following CAST() gives warnings, because x'aa' and 'X'aa' don't behave as a number. In all versions of MySQL, no warnings are triggered because they 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'

Casting to Intervals

SELECT CAST(2019-01-04 AS INTERVAL DAY_SECOND(2)) AS "Cast";

+-------------+
| Cast        |
+-------------+
| 00:20:14.00 |
+-------------+

Casting to Character Sets

Casting a Literal to a Specific Character Set

-- Converts the literal string 'abc' to the utf8mb4 character set
SELECT CAST('abc' AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8mb4);

Casting a Binary Literal to a Readable Character Set

-- Converts a hexadecimal (binary) literal to a UTF-8 string
SELECT CAST(0x68656c6c6f AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8mb4);

Using an Introducer Inside a CAST

-- Telling the parser the input is latin1, then casting the result to utf8mb4
SELECT CAST(_latin1'text' AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8mb4);

Syntax

Description

Examples

Simple Casts

Casting to Intervals

Casting to Character Sets

Casting a Literal to a Specific Character Set

Casting a Binary Literal to a Readable Character Set

Using an Introducer Inside a CAST

See Also