to_char(number) function in postgres

Question

i want to display/convert a number to character (of it's same length) using to_char() function .

In oracle i can write like

SELECT to_char(1234) FROM DUAL 

But in postgres SELECT to_char(1234) is not working.

Answer 1

You need to supply a format mask. In PostgreSQL there is no default:

select to_char(1234, 'FM9999'); 

If you don't know how many digits there are, just estimate the maximum:

select to_char(1234, 'FM999999999999999999'); 

If the number has less digits, this won't have any side effects.

If you don't need any formatting (like decimal point, thousands separator) you can also simply cast the value to text:

select 1234::text 

Answer 2

you have to specify a numeric format, ie:

to_char(1234, '9999') 

Take a look here for more info: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/functions-formatting.html