AS_CHAR , AS_VARCHAR¶

Casts a VARIANT value to a VARCHAR value. This function only converts CHAR and VARCHAR values.

The AS_CHAR and AS_VARCHAR functions are synonymous.

The CHAR data type is synonymous with the VARCHAR data type, except for its default length.

Syntax¶

AS_CHAR( <variant_expr> )

AS_VARCHAR( <variant_expr> )

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The function returns a value of type VARCHAR or NULL:

If the type of the value in the variant_expr argument is CHAR or VARCHAR, the function returns a value of type VARCHAR.

If the type of the value in the variant_expr argument doesn’t match the type of the output value, the function returns NULL.
If the variant_expr argument is NULL, the function returns NULL.

Create a table and load data into it:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE as_varchar_example (varchar1 VARIANT);

INSERT INTO as_varchar_example (varchar1)
  SELECT TO_VARIANT('My VARCHAR value');

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Use the AS_VARCHAR function in a query to cast a VARIANT value to a VARCHAR value:

SELECT AS_VARCHAR(varchar1) varchar_value
  FROM as_varchar_example;

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+------------------+
| VARCHAR_VALUE    |
|------------------|
| My VARCHAR value |
+------------------+