CONVERT() Function
CONVERT() Function is a SQL function in the String Functions category. SQL Server: converts an expression from one data type to another. The style parameter controls date format. The syntax is CONVERT(data_type, expression [, style]). It accepts data_type, expression. It returns converted value. A typical example: SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR, GETDATE(), 101); -- '06/06/2026' SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR, GETDATE(), 103); -- '06/06/2026' (DD/MM/YYYY) SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR, GETDATE(), 120); -- '2026-06-06 14:30:00' -- Style codes: -- 1: MM/DD/YY, 101: MM/DD/YYYY -- 3: DD/MM/YY, 103: DD/MM/YYYY -- 12: YYMMDD, 112: YYYYMMDD -- 120: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS SELECT CONVERT(INT, '123'); -- 123 SELECT CONVERT(DECIMAL(10,2), '99.99'); -- 99.99 -- PostgreSQL: ::type or CAST SELECT '123'::INT; -- MySQL: CAST or CONVERT SELECT CAST('123' AS SIGNED); A close relative is CONCAT(), which concatenates two or more strings into one string. Returns NULL if any argument is NULL. A close relative is SUBSTRING(), which extracts characters from a string starting at position `start` for `length` characters.