SQL CONVERT

This function converts an expression from one data type to another. If the SQL Server cannot CONVERT an expression into the desired data type, then it returns an Error. For this convert demonstration, we use the Employee table.

SQL Server CONVERT Function Syntax

The syntax of the CONVERT Function

CONVERT (Data_Type [(Length)], Expression, [Style])

-- For example
SELECT CONVERT (VARCHAR(50), 245) AS [resultName]
FROM [Source]

• Data_Type: Specify the Data Type to which you want to transform an expression
• Length: It is an optional parameter of integer type. You can use this parameter to specify the length of the target data type. By default, it is 30.
• An expression that you want to convert into the desired data type.
• Style: use this optional parameter of integer type to define the style.

SQL Server CONVERT Function to format Date

The list of formatting styles is available in the CONVERT function.

Without Century (yy)	With Century (yyyy)	Standard	Input/Output
–	0 to 100	This is the Default for both datetime and smalldatetime	mon dd yyyy hh:miAM (or PM)
1	101	The U.S.	1 = mm/dd/yy 101 = mm/dd/yyyy
2	102	ANSI	2 = yy.mm.dd 102 = yyyy.mm.dd
3	103	British/French	3 = dd/mm/yy 103 = dd/mm/yyyy
4	104	German	4 = dd.mm.yy 104 = dd.mm.yyyy
5	105	Italian	5 = dd-mm-yy 105 = dd-mm-yyyy
6	106	–	6 = dd mon yy 106 = dd mon yyyy
7	107	–	7 = Mon dd, yy 107 = Mon dd, yyyy
8	108	–	hh:mi:ss
–	9 or 109	Default + milliseconds	mon dd yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmmmAM (or PM)
10	110	USA	10 = mm-dd-yy 110 = mm-dd-yyyy
11	111	JAPAN	11 = yy/mm/dd 111 = yyyy/mm/dd
12	112	ISO	12 = yymmdd 112 = yyyymmdd
–	13 or 113	Europe Default + millisecond	dd mon yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmm(24h)
14	114	–	hh:mi:ss:mmm(24h)
–	20 or 120	ODBC canonical	yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss(24h)
–	21 or 121	ODBC canonical with milliseconds. This is the Default for time, date, datetime2, and datetimeoffset	yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss.mmm(24h)
–	126	ISO8601	yyyy-mm-ddThh:mi:ss.mmm (no Spaces)
–	127	ISO8601 with time zone Z	yyyy-mm-ddThh:mi:ss.mmmZ (no Spaces)
–	130	Hijri	dd mon yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmmAM
–	131	Hijri	dd/mm/yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmmAM

SQL CONVERT Function to Format DATE

In this example, we use the CONVERT function on GETDATE() to return the date in different formats.

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), GETDATE()) AS 'Result 1';

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), GETDATE(), 100) AS 'Result 2';
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), GETDATE(), 101) AS 'Result 3';
 
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), GETDATE(), 102) AS 'Result 4';
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), GETDATE(), 103) AS 'Result 5';
 
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), GETDATE(), 104) AS 'Result 6';
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), GETDATE(), 105) AS 'Result 7';
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), GETDATE(), 110) AS 'Result 8';

SQL Server CONVERT Money Format Example

If an expression is money or small money, then we can use the style argument to stylize. The list of money formatting styles that are available in the CONVERT function is.

Value	Output
0	It will only return two digits after the decimal point
1	It will separate every three digits by placing a comma. It will also return two digits after the decimal point.
2	This return four digits after the decimal point
126	This is equivalent to 2 when you are changing to char or varchar.

DECLARE @Sale MONEY
SET @Sale = 1234567.98723

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale) AS 'Result 1';

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale, 0) AS 'Result 2';

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale, 1) AS 'Result 3';
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale, 2) AS 'Result 4';

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale, 256) AS 'Result 5';

SQL Convert float values Example

We can use the style argument when an expression is float or real. The following are the formatting styles that are available in the CONVERT function.

Value	Output
0	This returns a maximum of 6 digits
1	It always returns 16 digits. Always use Scientific notation
2	It always returns 16 digits. Always use in Scientific notation
3	It returns eight digits. Always use Scientific notation

DECLARE @Sale FLOAT
SET @Sale = 1234567.98723

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale) AS 'Result 1';

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale, 0) AS 'Result 2';

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale, 1) AS 'Result 3';
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale, 2) AS 'Result 4';

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), @Sale, 3) AS 'Result 5';

The result set of the above query is as shown below. For the sake of easy display, we removed the SELECT keyword from the second statement and replaced it with a comma.

Result 1	Result 2	Result 3	Result 4	Result 5
1.23457e+006	1.23457e+006	1.2345680e+006	1.234567987230000e+006	1.2345679872300001e+006

Null Values Example

In this SQL Server convert function example, we will work with NULL values and show how to handle them.

DECLARE @str AS VARCHAR(50)
SET @str = NULL

SELECT CONVERT(INT, @str) AS Result;

SELECT CONVERT(INT, NULL) AS Result;

OUTPUT

Result
------
NULL

Result
------
NULL

Suppose we use the Convert function to change the ‘Tutorial Gateway’ string to date time. As you can see, it is impossible, so it returns an Error as output.

SELECT CONVERT(INT, 'Tutorial Gateway') AS Result;

Execute the above Transact query.

Msg 245, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
Failed converting the Varchar value 'Tutorial Gateway' to data type int.

We will apply this to our Employee table in this Convert Function example.

SELECT TOP 1000 [EmpID]
      ,[FirstName]
      ,[LastName]
      ,[Education]
      ,[Occupation]
      ,[YearlyIncome] AS [Yearly Income]
      ,CONVERT(VARCHAR(50),[Sales], 2) AS [Sale Amount]
      ,CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), [HireDate], 113) AS [Hire Date]
  FROM [Employee]