SQL Server can implicitly cast strings in the form of YYYYMMDD to a datetime - all other strings must be explicitly cast. Here are two quick code blocks which will do the conversion from the form you are talking about ( MMDDYYYY ).

Best-case solution is to convert your table columns to the proper datatypes. Second-best case, add columns containing the proper datatypes, and convert the data over; you'd have to fix any existing bad data, as well as convert data on the fly as it's loaded (yuck).

Sep 16, 2021 · With CONVERT, we can do a bit more than with SQL Server CAST. Let’s say we want to convert a date to a string in the format of YYYY-MM-DD. We can do this with the following expression: SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(30),GETDATE(),23);

Aug 25, 2017 · The CAST() function converts a value (of any type) into a specified datatype. Tip: Also look at the CONVERT() function. Syntax

May 25, 2021 · In this article we look at how to use the CAST function to change the data type for some data as well as compare CAST, CONVERT and PARSE functions.

SELECT CONVERT(datetime2(3), start_time, 121) FROM track_date; Note: datetime will be deprecated and replaced by datetime2(n) where n is the number of decimals of the seconds. See also: CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL)

Dec 30, 2022 · INSERT INTO #dateFormats. SELECT CONVERT(nvarchar, @counter), CONVERT(nvarchar,@date, @counter) . SET @counter = @counter + 1. END TRY. BEGIN CATCH; SET @counter = @counter + 1. IF @counter >= 150. BEGIN. BREAK. END CATCH. A time on a 24-hour clock without a date. There can be between 0 and 7 decimal places to support fractional seconds.

Mar 31, 2025 · Learn how to use the SQL CAST function for data type conversion in SQL Server. Get examples for converting numbers, strings, and dates with CAST in SQL. Avoid common errors and see best practices for accurate conversions. ... Example: Converting VARCHAR to INT. SELECT CAST('456' AS INT) * 2; Output: 912 .

Apr 19, 2025 · Here’s how to effectively use the CAST function for this purpose: Example of Converting Varchar to Datetime. Suppose you have a table named orders with a column order_date stored as a varchar. To convert this to a datetime, you would execute: SELECT CAST(order_date AS DATETIME) AS converted_order_date FROM orders;

Jun 5, 2018 · So if you need to convert a string to a date/time value, you can use the CONVERT() function or the CAST() function. And if you get an error while using those two functions, the PARSE() function might be just what you need. This article contains examples using the CAST() function. Syntax. The syntax goes like this: