I'm trying to combine a min and max salary with a hyphen for display in a report. I feel like I've done this a hundred times but I still can't figure out why I'm getting the "Error converting data type varchar to numeric" especially since I'm trying to convert a numeric to varchar not the other way around.
amt_exp_formatted = CASE
WHEN a.class_code IN ('9997','9998','9999') THEN 0
--ELSE CAST(e.min_sal as VARCHAR(10)) + '-' + CAST(e.max_sal as VARCHAR(10))
ELSE CONVERT(VARCHAR(1), 1) + CONVERT(VARCHAR(1), 'a')
END
In the above example if I use 'a' I get the error. If I change 'a' to '9' then it works AND it appends 9 to the 1 (i.e. 19) rather than adding them together which is exactly what I want but with a character string. I've tried both CAST and CONVERT with no luck. I know I shouldn't need the second CONVERT on the letter 'a' but I was just trying to force the data types to be the same just in case. I have no doubt at all I'm missing something simple but I can't seem to get it so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask the community.
Thank you!
A case expression returns one value with a determinate type. If any returned fork returns a number, then number it is. And strings get converted.
So, be sure you are returning a string in all cases:
(CASE WHEN a.class_code IN ('9997', '9998', '9999')
THEN '0'
ELSE CONCAT(e.min_sal, '-', e.max_sal)
END)
CONCAT() automatically converts the arguments to strings.
This is becuase you are mixing the data type. in the first part of case you were returning 0 while in the else part you're converting it to varchar(). - you can try the below returning 0 as also varchar
amt_exp_formatted = CASE
WHEN a.class_code IN ('9997','9998','9999') THEN '0'
--ELSE CAST(e.min_sal as VARCHAR(10)) + '-' + CAST(e.max_sal as VARCHAR(10))
ELSE CONVERT(VARCHAR(1), 1) + CONVERT(VARCHAR(1), 'a')
END
Related
I am trying to concatenate two integer values with hyphen in between. So when I try to do the same, SQL gives me the error.
Conversion failed when converting the varchar value '30-45' to data type int.
NOTE:
Also, the second value for concatenation can be null so in that case, a hyphen should not be concatenated.
example
from1 = 30
to1 = 45
case
to1 is null
then from1
else CONCAT(from1, '-' + nullif(to1,'')) end
AS age
//This works but shows 3045 instead of 30-45.
concat(from, '-', to) AS age
//This doesn't work out as it gives the error 'Conversion failed when converting the varchar value '30-45' to data type int.'
Thanks for the help in advance and looking forward to it.
DECLARE #FROM INT=30;
DECLARE #TO INT=45;
SELECT CAST(#FROM AS VARCHAR(2))+'-'+CAST(ISNULL(#TO,'') AS VARCHAR(2));
SQL is trying to convert your phrase to int probably because it's part of CASE statement. It uses the first route to determine the output type.
In your case- you put NULL as the first route option in your CASE, so it is determined as int. try putting instead of it this: CAST(NULL AS VARCHAR(10))
It seems that for some reason you think that strings that contain mathematical expressions are resolved as said expression, not an as literal string. Thus if you have the varchar value '30-45' you think it'll return the int value -15; this isn't true. This in fact isn't true in any language, let alone T-SQL.
For what you have, in your ELSE the '-' isn't a minus... It's a string... - is a minus. If you want to substract a number from another then it's a basic maths expression: a - b. You're effectively doing CONVERT(varchar,a) + '-' + CONVERT(varchar,b)... Just have your ELSE as the following:
from1 - NULLIF(to1,0)
This will return NULL if from1 has the value NULL, or to1 has the value NULL or 0.
Please check below code. It's working
example
#from1 = 30
#to1 = 45
IF #to1 is null
SELECT #from1
ELSE
SELECT CONCAT(#from1, '-' , nullif(#to1,'')) as age
I have the following code in a stored procedure and am trying to conditionally format a calculated number based on its length (if the number is less than 4 digits, pad with leading zeros). However, my case statement is not working. The "formattedNumber2" result is the one I'm looking for.
I'm assuming the case statement treats the variable strangely, but I also don't know of a way around this.
DECLARE #Number int = 5
SELECT
CASE
WHEN (LEN(CONVERT(VARCHAR, #Number)) > 4)
THEN #Number
ELSE RIGHT('0000' + CAST(#Number AS VARCHAR(4)), 4)
END AS formattedNumber,
LEN(CONVERT(VARCHAR, #Number)) AS numberLength,
RIGHT('0000' + CAST(#Number AS VARCHAR(4)), 4) AS formattedNumber2
I get the following results when I run the query:
formattedNumber numberLength formattedNumber2
-------------------------------------------------
5 1 0005
SQL DEMO
The problem is you are using different data type on your case , integer and string. So the CASE stay with the first type he find and convert the rest.
CASE WHEN (LEN(convert(VARCHAR, #Number)) > 4) THEN convert(VARCHAR, #Number)
This can be done a lot easier with format() since version 2012.
format(n,
'0000')
And that would also handle negative values, which your current approach apparently doesn't.
Prior 2012 it can be handled with basically replicate() and + (string concatenation).
isnull(replicate('-',
-sign(n)), '')
+
isnull(replicate('0',
4
-
len(cast(abs(n) AS varchar(10)))
),
'')
+
cast(abs(n) AS varchar(10))
(It targets integer values, choose a larger length for the varchar casts for bigint.)
db<>fiddle
I'm trying to do a count to see how many fields in column value are > 10:
SELECT
COUNT(CASE WHEN t.value > 10)
THEN 1
ELSE NULL
END
FROM table t
WHERE t.DATE = '2017-01-01'
However, the column has a few custom entries like +15 or >14.0, so I added the following:
SELECT
COUNT(CASE WHEN value LIKE '>%'
and Replace(value, '>', '') > 10)
FROM table t
WHERE t.DATE = '2017-01-01'
However, after doing that, I get the following error:
Conversion failed when converting the varchar value '>14.0' to data
type int. Warning: Null value is eliminated by an aggregate or other
SET operation.
Seeing I have no access to rewrite the database with an UPDATE, does anyone have a workaround solution?
You could fix this, either by simply changing 10 to 10.0:
SELECT CASE WHEN '14.0' > 10.0 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END
This will cause the implicit conversion of '14.0' to decimal rather than int, which works, or you explicitly convert it:
SELECT CASE WHEN CONVERT(DECIMAL(14, 2), '14.0') > 10 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END
If it were me however, and I was not in a position to update the data, and do something a bit left field, like use a numeric data type to store numbers, I would ignore these values completely, and simply use TRY_CONVERT to avoid the conversion errors:
SELECT
COUNT(CASE WHEN TRY_CONVERT(DECIMAL(14, 2), value) > 10 THEN 1 END)
It is a varchar column, so the possibilities of what nonsense could be in there are endless, you might get a query that works now by replacing > and +, but then what about when someone puts in <, or ends up with a space in between like + 14, or something completely random like 'aaaa', where does it end?
It would be helpful to see the table and sample data, but it sounds like you have strings that are numbers and a sign.
You can cast it to convert the data since you are mixing and matching data types.
SELECT
COUNT(CASE WHEN CAST(value AS VARCHAR(10)) LIKE '>%'
and CAST(Replace(value, '>', '') AS your_num_datatype_here) > 10)
I have a database with a list of old ItemID's that need updating to a new format.
The old format is of the form 8046Y and the new format moves the 4th digit to the end and prepends a hyphen and adds a 0 if it's a single digit. The old format also uses alpha characters when the number goes over 9 for example 464HB where the H represents 17. I also need to add a 1 to the beginning of the new format. All this can be done with string manipulation in SQL I hope.
Some examples:
8046Y becomes 1804Y-06
464HB becomes 1464B-17 (H = 17)
Can anyone give me some pointers as to how to go about this in SQL?
I got as far as:
select '1' + LEFT(ItemID, 3) + RIGHT(ItemID,1) + '-' + '0' + SUBSTRING(ItemID,3,1) from items
But the conversion from a=10 to z=36 stumped me
Try this:
select
'1'
+ left(#str,3)
+ right(#str,1)
+ '-'
+ case
when substring(#str,4,1) like '%[0-9]%' 1 then right('00' + substring(#str,4,1),2)
else cast(10 + ascii(substring(#str,4,1))-ascii('A') as varchar(2))
end
Explanation: If the 4th character is a digit, then do not change the value and append it after padding with a zero. Otherwise, use ASCII to get the ASCII value for that character, get it's difference with the value for 'A' and add the offset of 10.
Demo
Since I don't know if there are any other special character to consider except 'H' only included this single character.
DECLARE #val CHAR(5) = '464HB'
SELECT #val, '1' + LEFT(#val,3)+SUBSTRING(#val,5,1)+'-'+CASE WHEN +SUBSTRING(#val,4,1)='H' THEN '17' ELSE '0'+SUBSTRING(#val,4,1) END
select '1' + LEFT(ItemID, 3) + RIGHT(ItemID,1) + '-'
+CASE RIGHT(LEFT(ItemID,1),2)
WHEN 'a' then 10
WHEN 'b' THEN 11
etc...
END [NewItemID]
from items
Just add the appropriate cases in that format.
I do it only for the challenge, i dont recommend to use
DECLARE #id varchar(5) = '8046Y'
--SET #id = '464HB'
SELECT
'1' +
LEFT(#id, 3) +
RIGHT(#id, 1) +
'-' +
CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(RIGHT(LEFT(#id, 4), 1)) = 1 THEN
RIGHT(LEFT(#id, 4), 1)
ELSE
RIGHT('00' + CONVERT(VARCHAR, ASCII(RIGHT(LEFT(#id, 4), 1)) - 64 + 9), 2)
END
-64 for the Start of ASCII A and +9 for your convention
Personally, I'd create a function for it.
Create a variable to handle the new value.
Manipulate the positions through SUBSTRING, you can also use RIGHT or LEFT
When adding zeros in single digit numbers, just do conditional statement
Regarding the conversion of letters to numbers(e.g. letter H), the converted value of the first letter is 65 assuming it's all capital. So, A=65, B=66, H=72 and so on. Use this data in manipulating the values. Uhm, I'll give you my thoughts but you can optimize it (since I don't have lots of time).
Taking your example of H=17, so A=10. Just subtract 55 in the conversions. So H=72(-55) becomes 17. This is applicable to all letters (in uppercase only).
I think this much is more than enough to guide you. Hope this would help.
I'm trying to run a query with the following as one of the select statements, and I keep getting the error "Error converting data type nvarchar to float." I've been converting VBA IIf statements to CASES and I can't seem to get the conversions right. fld2 is nvarchar(15) and fld1 is a float data type. I need help pinpointing why this error is being thrown.
CASE WHEN (IsNumeric([fld2]) = 1) THEN Round(Convert(nvarchar,[fld2]) +
' / ' + Convert(nvarchar,[fld1]),(Len(Convert(nvarchar,[theData])) -
Charindex(Convert(nvarchar, [fld2]),'.'))) ELSE [fld2] END,
As is, your example would produce quite a funny expression for SQL server to evaluate. Let's substitute values for fld1, fld2, and theData as an example to see what you're trying to do:
[fld1] = 42.0
[fld2] = N'69.56'
[theData] = N'something'
(an N before a string makes it an nvarchar instead of varchar)
With substitutions, the resulting query would look like this:
CASE WHEN (IsNumeric(N'69.56') = 1) THEN
Round(Convert(nvarchar,'69.56') + ' / ' + Convert(nvarchar, 42.0),
(Len(Convert(nvarchar,'something')) - Charindex(Convert(nvarchar, N'69.56'),'.')))
ELSE
N'69.56'
END
Since you don't need to convert an nvarchar to nvarchar explicitly, your query actually looks more like:
CASE WHEN (IsNumeric(N'69.56') = 1) THEN
Round(N'69.56 / ' + Convert(nvarchar, 42.0),
(Len(N'something') - Charindex(N'69.56','.')))
ELSE
N'69.56'
END
So there are a couple of problems:
You're passing a varchar value into the ROUND() function, which expects a numeric value, not an expression
The two paths of the CASE statement are returning different types
What I think your query should look like is:
CASE WHEN IsNumeric([fld2]) = 1 THEN
CONVERT(nvarchar, ROUND(CONVERT(float, [fld2]) / [fld1],
(LEN([theData]) - CHARINDEX([fld2], '.'))))
ELSE
[fld2]
END
The above does the math and rounding on numeric results instead of strings, doesn't do any unnecessary conversions, and also returns the same type in both cases.