Oracle - PL/SQL CAST Function

CAST converts one built-in data type or collection-typed value into another built-in data type or collection-typed value.

The syntax for the cast function is:

cast ( { expr ( subquery ) MULTISET ( subquery ) } AS type_name )

The following casts are allowed:

TO	FROM
	char, varchar2	number	datetime / interval	raw	rowid, urowid	nchar, nvarchar2
char, varchar2	X	X	X	X	X
number	X	X
datetime / interval	X		X
raw	X			X
rowid, urowid	X				X
nchar, nvarchar2		X	X	X	X	X

Applies To:

· Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g

For example:

select cast( '14-Feb-2003' AS varchar2(30) )
from dual;

This would convert the date (ie: 14-Feb-2003) into a varchar2(30) value.