Converting number to text for concatenation

[Jinzuku]

Hi all,

I'm trying to create a unique identifier field in my table but the two fields I'm trying to concatenate are numbers.

When I write "nhsnumber + diffdate as a_sid" it tries to add the fields together rather than concatenating them.

I've tried converting them into varchars and chars and it's still doing the same thing.

How can I convert these to text so that they can concatenated?

Thanks

Sunny

[C CSR]

What language, what are the original datatypes, etc?

[NeoPa]

I'd use CAST() to convert both your fields to string before using the concatenation character + (which is also the addition character for numerics of course).

[ck9663]

It's because you convert after you add the values. Convert the values then concatenate them.

Good Luck!!!


~~ CK

[Jinzuku]

Thanks all for your help but I've managed to figure it out. The reason I was having issues was because I was trying to convert them to char or varchar, but what I really needed to convert them to was nvarchar and then concatenate them.

Still not overly sure what the difference between varchar and nvarchar is but at least it works :D

[NeoPa]

The difference is that char and varchar hold the characters as unicode values (16 bits) rather than the ASCII (8 bits) of the nchar and nvarchar types.