Let’s take a look at PL/SQL Data Type Conversion Functions

• TO_DATE: character string to DATE
TO_DATE(‘07/14/01’, ‘MM/DD/YY’);

• TO_NUMBER: character string to NUMBER
TO_NUMBER(‘2’);

• TO_CHAR: NUMBER or DATE to character string
TO_CHAR(2);

TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, ‘MM/DD/YYYY HH:MI’);

Character String Functions

• Concatenating strings: joining 2 or more character strings into a single string

• Concatenation operator: ||
s_first_name := ‘Sarah’
s_last_name := ‘Miller’
s_full_name := s_first_name || ‘ ’ || s_last_name

PL/SQL Character String Functions

• RTRIM: removes blank trailing spaces
cust_address := RTRIM(cust_address);

• LENGTH: returns string length (number of characters)
address_length := LENGTH(cust_address);

• UPPER, LOWER: changes characters to all upper or lower case
s_name := UPPER(s_name);
s_name := LOWER(s_name);

PL/SQL Character String Functions

• INSTR: searches a string and looks for a matching substring and returns its starting position

starting_position :=

INSTR(string_being_searched,

search_string>);

blank_position :=

INSTR(‘Sarah Miller’, ‘ ’);