Conversion functions

Minerva allows implicit conversion of numeric and character values to the correct type when possible. However, it does not perform automatic conversions between character and numeric types. For instance, a query expecting a varchar will not automatically convert a bigint value to an equivalent varchar.

Explicit casting to a particular type can be done when necessary.

Conversion functions

Function	Description	Return Type
cast(value AS type)	Explicitly cast a value as a type. Used for varchar to numeric and vice versa conversions.	type
try_cast(value AS type)	Similar to cast(), but returns null if the cast fails.	type

Formatting

Function	Description	Return Type
format(format, args...)	Returns a formatted string using the specified format string and arguments.	varchar
format_number(number)	Returns a formatted string using a unit symbol.	varchar

-- '123%'
SELECT format('%s%%', 123);

-- '3.14159'
SELECT format('%.5f', pi());

-- '008'
SELECT format('%03d', 8);

-- '1,234,567.89'
SELECT format('%,.2f', 1234567.89);

-- 'hello  ,  world'
SELECT format('%-7s,%7s', 'hello', 'world');

-- 'b c a'
SELECT format('%2$s %3$s %1$s', 'a', 'b', 'c');

-- 'Tuesday, July 4, 2006'
SELECT format('%1$tA, %1$tB %1$te, %1$tY', date '2006-07-04');

Data size

The parse_data_size function supports the following units:

Unit	Description	Value
B	Bytes	1
kB	Kilobytes	1024
MB	Megabytes	1024²
GB	Gigabytes	1024³
TB	Terabytes	1024⁴
PB	Petabytes	1024⁵
EB	Exabytes	1024⁶
ZB	Zettabytes	1024⁷
YB	Yottabytes	1024⁸

parse_data_size

Function	Description
parse_data_size	Parses a string of format value unit into a number.

Miscellaneous

Function	Description	Return Type
typeof(expr)	Returns the name of the type of the provided expression.	varchar