Re: Convert char to number ?

From: <akkha_at_my-deja.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 16:14:57 GMT
Message-ID: <94mv1m$9u2$1@nnrp1.deja.com>

Try select sum(nvl(markcol1,0)) from mytable where

translate(markcol1,'a-0123456789,.','a') is null;

Assuming your number is well behaved. For example, -1.23 would work but not 1-2.3

Anthony

In article <94msm7$7ds$1_at_nnrp1.deja.com>, tjmxyz_at_my-deja.com wrote:
> Simple question..
>
> I have a column markcol1
> I need to convert it to a number and sum it but I can't guarantee all
> values will be numbers..
>
> For example
> MARKCOL1
> -----------
> abc
> 10
> 0
> .NULL.
> 12
>
> IF I do...
> SELECT SUM(TO_NUMBER(markcol1)) from mytable;
>
> I get...
>
> ORA-01722: invalid number
>
> How do I ignore any character expressions....
>
> Tried also
> SELECT SUM(TO_NUMBER(NVL(markcol1,0))) from mytable;
>
> But of course that did not work...
>
> What do I use?
>
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> http://www.deja.com/
>

Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/ Received on Wed Jan 24 2001 - 10:14:57 CST