How to convert or cast int to string in SQL Server

Question

Looking at a column that holds last 4 of someone's SSN and the column was originally created as an int datatype. Now SSN that begin with 0 get registered as 0 on the database.

How can I convert the column and it's information from an int into a string for future proof?

Answer 1

You should convert. CONVERT(VARCHAR(4), your_col)