ORACLE convert number to string

BeHunter picture BeHunter · Apr 8, 2013 · Viewed 108.8k times · Source

Need some help in converting numbers:

select to_char(a, '99D99')
       , to_char(a, '90D99')
from
(
select 50 a from dual
union
select 50.57 from dual
union
select 5.57 from dual
union
select 0.35 from dual
union
select 0.4 from dual

Will result in:

1      ,35    0,35
2      ,40    0,40
3     5,57    5,57
4    50,00   50,00
5    50,57   50,57

But how to make my output like:

  1. 0,35
  2. 0,4
  3. 5,57
  4. 50
  5. 50,57

I need 0 before comma, but not after.

Answer

Alex Poole picture Alex Poole · Apr 8, 2013

Using the FM format model modifier to get close, as you won't get the trailing zeros after the decimal separator; but you will still get the separator itself, e.g. 50.. You can use rtrim to get rid of that:

select to_char(a, '99D90'),
    to_char(a, '90D90'),
    to_char(a, 'FM90D99'),
    rtrim(to_char(a, 'FM90D99'), to_char(0, 'D'))
from (
    select 50 a from dual
    union all select 50.57 from dual
    union all select 5.57 from dual
    union all select 0.35 from dual
    union all select 0.4 from dual
)
order by a;

TO_CHA TO_CHA TO_CHA RTRIM(
------ ------ ------ ------
   .35   0.35 0.35   0.35
   .40   0.40 0.4    0.4
  5.57   5.57 5.57   5.57
 50.00  50.00 50.    50
 50.57  50.57 50.57  50.57

Note that I'm using to_char(0, 'D') to generate the character to trim, to match the decimal separator - so it looks for the same character, , or ., as the first to_char adds.

The slight downside is that you lose the alignment. If this is being used elsewhere it might not matter, but it does then you can also wrap it in an lpad, which starts to make it look a bit complicated:

...
lpad(rtrim(to_char(a, 'FM90D99'), to_char(0, 'D')), 6)
...

TO_CHA TO_CHA TO_CHA RTRIM( LPAD(RTRIM(TO_CHAR(A,'FM
------ ------ ------ ------ ------------------------
   .35   0.35 0.35   0.35     0.35
   .40   0.40 0.4    0.4       0.4
  5.57   5.57 5.57   5.57     5.57
 50.00  50.00 50.    50         50
 50.57  50.57 50.57  50.57   50.57