Beginning Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ... - S3 Tech Training

The conversions can actually get a little less intuitive also. For example, what if you wanted to convert a
timestamp column into a regular number? A timestamp is just a binary number, so the conversion isn’t
any really big deal:
CREATE TABLE ConvertTest
(
ColID int IDENTITY,
ColTS timestamp
);
GO
INSERT INTO ConvertTest
DEFAULT VALUES;
SELECT ColTS AS Uncoverted, CAST(ColTS AS int) AS Converted
FROM ConvertTest;
This yields something like (your exact numbers will vary):
(1 row(s) affected)
Uncoverted Converted
----------------- -------------
0x00000000000000C9 201
(1 row(s) affected)
We can also convert dates:
SELECT OrderDate, CAST(OrderDate AS varchar) AS Converted
FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader
WHERE SalesOrderID = 43663;
This yields something similar to (your exact format may change depending on system date configuration):
OrderDate Converted
----------------------- ------------------------------
2001-07-01 00:00:00.000 Jul 1 2001 12:00AM
(1 row(s) affected)
Notice that CAST can still do date conversion; you just don’t have any control over the formatting as you
do with CONVERT. For example:
SELECT OrderDate, CONVERT(varchar(12), OrderDate, 111) AS Converted
FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader
WHERE SalesOrderID = 43663;
This yields:
OrderDate Converted
----------------------- ------------
2001-07-01 00:00:00.000 2001/07/01
(1 row(s) affected)
Chapter 7: Adding More to Our Queries
205