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SQL Server TRY_CAST() Function



The SQL Server (Transact-SQL) TRY_CAST() function tries to convert an expression from one datatype to another datatype. If the conversion fails, the function will return NULL. Otherwise, it will return the converted value.

Note: CAST() function is similar to this function except the CAST() function returns an error (instead of NULL) if the conversion fails.

Syntax

TRY_CAST(expression AS data_type [ ( length ) ])

Parameters

expression Required. Specify the value to convert to another datatype.
data_type Required. Specify the datatype to convert to. See the data types of SQL Server. Note that the Alias data types cannot be used.
length Optional. Specify the length of the resulting data type, for data types that allow a user specified length. Default is 30.

Return Value

Returns the expression converted to another data_type.

Convert to INT

The TRY_CAST() function can be used to convert a value to a INT type. For example - in the example below, 123.456 is converted to INT datatype.

SELECT TRY_CAST(123.456 AS INT);
Result: 123

Convert to DECIMAL

The TRY_CAST() function can be used to convert a value to a DECIMAL type. For example - in the example below, '123.456' is converted to DECIMAL datatype.

SELECT TRY_CAST('123.456' AS DECIMAL(5, 2));
Result: 123.46

Convert to CHAR

The TRY_CAST() function can be used to convert a value to a CHAR type. For example - in the example below, 123 is converted to CHAR datatype.

SELECT TRY_CAST(123 AS CHAR(4));
Result: '123'

Convert to NCHAR

The TRY_CAST() function can be used to convert a value to a NCHAR type. For example - in the example below, 123 is converted to NCHAR datatype.

SELECT TRY_CAST(123 AS NCHAR(10));
Result: '123'

Convert to VARCHAR

The TRY_CAST() function can be used to convert a value to a VARCHAR type. For example - in the example below, 123 is converted to VARCHAR datatype.

SELECT TRY_CAST(123 AS VARCHAR);
Result: '123'

Convert to DATE

The TRY_CAST() function can be used to convert a value to a DATE type. For example - in the example below, '2018-08-18' is converted to DATE datatype.

SELECT TRY_CAST('2018-08-18' AS DATE);
Result: '2018-08-31'

Convert to TIME

The TRY_CAST() function can be used to convert a value to a TIME type. For example - in the example below, '10:38:42' is converted to TIME datatype.

SELECT TRY_CAST('10:38:42' AS TIME);
Result: '10:38:42'

Convert to DATETIME

The TRY_CAST() function can be used to convert a value to a DATETIME type. For example - in the example below, '2018-08-18 10:38:42' is converted to DATETIME datatype.

SELECT TRY_CAST('2018-08-18 10:38:42' AS DATETIME);
Result: '2018-08-18 10:38:42'

❮ SQL Server Functions