ClickHouse/docs/en/query_language/functions/type_conversion_functions.md

Type conversion functions

toUInt8, toUInt16, toUInt32, toUInt64

toInt8, toInt16, toInt32, toInt64

toFloat32, toFloat64

toUInt8OrZero, toUInt16OrZero, toUInt32OrZero, toUInt64OrZero, toInt8OrZero, toInt16OrZero, toInt32OrZero, toInt64OrZero, toFloat32OrZero, toFloat64OrZero

toDate, toDateTime

toString

Functions for converting between numbers, strings (but not fixed strings), dates, and dates with times. All these functions accept one argument.

When converting to or from a string, the value is formatted or parsed using the same rules as for the TabSeparated format (and almost all other text formats). If the string can't be parsed, an exception is thrown and the request is canceled.

When converting dates to numbers or vice versa, the date corresponds to the number of days since the beginning of the Unix epoch. When converting dates with times to numbers or vice versa, the date with time corresponds to the number of seconds since the beginning of the Unix epoch.

The date and date-with-time formats for the toDate/toDateTime functions are defined as follows:

YYYY-MM-DD
YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss

As an exception, if converting from UInt32, Int32, UInt64, or Int64 numeric types to Date, and if the number is greater than or equal to 65536, the number is interpreted as a Unix timestamp (and not as the number of days) and is rounded to the date. This allows support for the common occurrence of writing 'toDate(unix_timestamp)', which otherwise would be an error and would require writing the more cumbersome 'toDate(toDateTime(unix_timestamp))'.

Conversion between a date and date with time is performed the natural way: by adding a null time or dropping the time.

Conversion between numeric types uses the same rules as assignments between different numeric types in C++.

Additionally, the toString function of the DateTime argument can take a second String argument containing the name of the time zone. Example: Asia/Yekaterinburg In this case, the time is formatted according to the specified time zone.

SELECT
    now() AS now_local,
    toString(now(), 'Asia/Yekaterinburg') AS now_yekat

┌───────────now_local─┬─now_yekat───────────┐
│ 2016-06-15 00:11:21 │ 2016-06-15 02:11:21 │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┘

Also see the toUnixTimestamp function.

toFixedString(s, N)

Converts a String type argument to a FixedString(N) type (a string with fixed length N). N must be a constant. If the string has fewer bytes than N, it is passed with null bytes to the right. If the string has more bytes than N, an exception is thrown.

toStringCutToZero(s)

Accepts a String or FixedString argument. Returns the String with the content truncated at the first zero byte found.

Example:

SELECT toFixedString('foo', 8) AS s, toStringCutToZero(s) AS s_cut

┌─s─────────────┬─s_cut─┐
│ foo\0\0\0\0\0 │ foo   │
└───────────────┴───────┘

SELECT toFixedString('foo\0bar', 8) AS s, toStringCutToZero(s) AS s_cut

┌─s──────────┬─s_cut─┐
│ foo\0bar\0 │ foo   │
└────────────┴───────┘

reinterpretAsUInt8, reinterpretAsUInt16, reinterpretAsUInt32, reinterpretAsUInt64

reinterpretAsInt8, reinterpretAsInt16, reinterpretAsInt32, reinterpretAsInt64

reinterpretAsFloat32, reinterpretAsFloat64

reinterpretAsDate, reinterpretAsDateTime

These functions accept a string and interpret the bytes placed at the beginning of the string as a number in host order (little endian). If the string isn't long enough, the functions work as if the string is padded with the necessary number of null bytes. If the string is longer than needed, the extra bytes are ignored. A date is interpreted as the number of days since the beginning of the Unix Epoch, and a date with time is interpreted as the number of seconds since the beginning of the Unix Epoch.

reinterpretAsString

This function accepts a number or date or date with time, and returns a string containing bytes representing the corresponding value in host order (little endian). Null bytes are dropped from the end. For example, a UInt32 type value of 255 is a string that is one byte long.

CAST(x, t)

Converts 'x' to the 't' data type. The syntax CAST(x AS t) is also supported.

Example:

SELECT
    '2016-06-15 23:00:00' AS timestamp,
    CAST(timestamp AS DateTime) AS datetime,
    CAST(timestamp AS Date) AS date,
    CAST(timestamp, 'String') AS string,
    CAST(timestamp, 'FixedString(22)') AS fixed_string

┌─timestamp───────────┬────────────datetime─┬───────date─┬─string──────────────┬─fixed_string──────────────┐
│ 2016-06-15 23:00:00 │ 2016-06-15 23:00:00 │ 2016-06-15 │ 2016-06-15 23:00:00 │ 2016-06-15 23:00:00\0\0\0 │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────────────────────────┘

Conversion to FixedString(N) only works for arguments of type String or FixedString(N).

Type conversion to Nullable and back is supported. Example:

SELECT toTypeName(x) FROM t_null

┌─toTypeName(x)─┐
│ Int8          │
│ Int8          │
└───────────────┘

SELECT toTypeName(CAST(x, 'Nullable(UInt16)')) FROM t_null

┌─toTypeName(CAST(x, 'Nullable(UInt16)'))─┐
│ Nullable(UInt16)                        │
│ Nullable(UInt16)                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

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