:: (colon colon sign) operator

Applies to: Databricks SQL Databricks Runtime

Casts the value expr to the target data type type. This operator is a synonym for cast function.

Syntax

expr :: type

Arguments

• expr: Any castable expression.

Returns

The result is type type.

This operator raises the same errors as cast function. Use ?:: (question double colon sign) operator to return NULL on error instead.

Common error conditions

• CAST_INVALID_INPUT
• CAST_OVERFLOW
• DATATYPE_MISMATCH
• NUMERIC_VALUE_OUT_OF_RANGE
• UNSUPPORTED_DATATYPE

Examples

> SELECT '20'::INTEGER;
 20

> SELECT typeof(NULL::STRING);
 string

> SELECT 'abc'::INT;
  Error: CAST_INVALID_INPUT

Related functions

• cast function
• try_cast function