tsql : best way to cast variables to string type?

Question

I wrote a tsql procedure which inserts a string into a text file which means it requires all variables be converted to a string. Instead of using a case by case statement, is there an easier to do this which encompasses all cases and forces whatever type to a string type?

thanks in advance

Answer 1

All-caps is literal text, lower-case is something into which you should interpolate a value:

CAST(expression AS CHAR)
-- or:
CAST(expression AS VARCHAR)

You can optionally specify a length.

Unfortunately, it's a bit harder with datetimes, if you want to format it in any way that's different from the default representation.

My info came from the MSDN site. I think you'll have to read that site, and others, carefully and play around with it a bit, but hopefully the CAST function will be a good start.

Good luck!