Search code examples
sqlinner-jointeradata

Teradata - Comparing Varchar to decimal


I am very new to Teradata and SQL in general. I need to create a table by combining data from three tables. I was able to successfully join two of them. I am not able to write the joining condition for the third table properly. Here is the code:

select s.cola, s.colb, 
t.colc, t.cold,
u.cole, u.colf, u.colg, u.colh, u.coli, u.colj, u.colk, u.coll
from table1 s 
inner join table2 t
on s.colb = t.colc
inner join table3 u
on t.cold = cast(u.colm as decimal)
order by 3
where substr(cast(s.cola as varchar(10)),6,2) = 11 and substr(cast(s.cola as varchar(10)),1,4) = 2017 and substr(cast(s.cola as varchar(10)),9,2) between 06 and 10

The error I am getting is:

[Teradata Database] [2620] The format or data contains a bad character.

I think the problem is with the line: on t.cold = cast(u.colm as decimal). The u.colm is of type VARCHAR(50) while t.cold is of type DECIMAL(10, 0). I believe I have casted it properly. Please help.Thanks in advance.


Solution

  • There's some bad data in u.colm.

    Depending on your Teradata release you can check it using

    WHERE u.colm > '' AND TRYCAST(u.colm as decimal(10,0)) ISNULL
    

    or

    WHERE u.colm > '' AND TO_NUMBER(u.colm) IS NULL
    

    You can also use those in the join-condition, e.g.

    on t.cold = trycast(u.colm as decimal(10,0))
    

    Don't forget to add the precision of the decimal, as it defaults to (5,0).

    Your WHERE_condition is strange, what's the datatype of s.cola? Seems it's a string with a date yyyy-mm-dd in it. Try

    WHERE trycast(s.cola as date) between date '2017-11-06' and date '2017-11-10' 
    

    Finally the ORDER BY should be placed after WHERE.