Ms sql error converting data type varchar to float - Исправление ошибок и поиск оптимальных решений проблем

Sometimes, under certain circumstances, when you develop in SQL Server and especially when you try to convert a string data type value to a float data type value, you might get the error message: error converting data type varchar to float. As the error message describes, there is a conversion error and this is most probably due to the input parameter value you used in the conversion function.

Read more below on how you can easily resolve this problem.

Reproducing the Data Type Conversion Error

As mentioned above, the actual reason you get this error message, is that you are passing as a parameter to the CAST or CONVERT SQL Server functions, a value (varchar expression) that is invalid and cannot be converted to the desired data type.

Consider the following example:

-----------------------------------------
--Variable declaration and initialization
-----------------------------------------
DECLARE @value AS VARCHAR(50);

SET @value = '12.340.111,91';

--Perform the casting
SELECT CAST(@value AS FLOAT);

--or
--Perform the conversion
SELECT CONVERT(FLOAT, @value);
-----------------------------------------

If you execute the above code you will get an error message in the following type:

Msg 8114, Level 16, State 5, Line 6
Error converting data type varchar to float.

Another similar example where you get the same data type conversion error, is the below:

-----------------------------------------
--Variable declaration and initialization
-----------------------------------------
DECLARE @value2 AS VARCHAR(50);

SET @value2 = '12,340.15';

--Perform the casting
SELECT CAST(@value2 AS FLOAT);

--or
--Perform the conversion
SELECT CONVERT(FLOAT, @value2);

Why you get this Conversion Error

The exact reason for getting the error message in this case is that you are using the comma (,) as a decimal point and also the dots as group digit symbols. Though SQL Server considers as a decimal point the dot (.). Also when converting a varchar to float you must not use any digit grouping symbols.

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How to Resolve the Conversion Issue

In order for the above code to execute, you would need to first remove the dots (that is the digit grouping symbols in this case) and then replace the comma with a dot thus properly defining the decimal symbol for the varchar expression.

Note: You need to be careful at this point, in order to correctly specify the decimal symbol at the correct position of the number.

Therefore, you can modify the code of example 1 as per below example:

-------------------------------------------
--Variable declaration and initialization
-------------------------------------------
DECLARE @value AS VARCHAR(50);

SET @value = '12.340.111,91';

--Prepare the string for casting/conversion to float
SET @value = REPLACE(@value, '.', '');
SET @value = REPLACE(@value, ',', '.');

--Perform the casting
SELECT CAST(@value AS FLOAT);

--or
--Perform the conversion
SELECT CONVERT(FLOAT, @value);
-----------------------------------------

If you execute the above code you will be able to get the string successfully converted to float.

Similarly, you can modify the code of example 2 as per below example:

-----------------------------------------
--Variable declaration and initialization
-----------------------------------------
DECLARE @value2 AS VARCHAR(50);

SET @value2 = '12,340.15';

--Prepare the string for casting/conversion to float
SET @value2 = REPLACE(@value2, ',', '');

--Perform the casting
SELECT CAST(@value2 AS FLOAT);

--or
--Perform the conversion
SELECT CONVERT(FLOAT, @value2);

Again, if you execute the above code you will be able to get the string successfully converted to float.

*Note: Even though you can try changing the regional settings of the PC for setting the dot (.) as the decimal symbol, this will only affect the way the data is presented to you when returned from the casting/conversion call. Therefore, you still have to modify the varchar expression prior to the casting/conversion operation.

Regarding the message: error converting data type varchar to numeric

The above error message is similar to the one we examined in this article, therefore, the way for resolving the issue is similar to the one we described in the article. The only different for the numeric case, is that you will have to replace FLOAT with numeric[ (p[ ,s] )]. Learn more about the numeric data type in SQL Server and how to resolve the above conversion issue, by reading the relevant article on SQLNetHub.

Watch the Live Demonstration on the VARCHAR to FLOAT Data Type Conversion Error

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How to resolve the error: Error converting data type varchar to float

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Artemakis Artemiou is a Senior SQL Server Architect, Author, a 9 Times Microsoft Data Platform MVP (2009-2018). He has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry in various roles. Artemakis is the founder of SQLNetHub and {essentialDevTips.com}. Artemakis is the creator of the well-known software tools Snippets Generator and DBA Security Advisor. Also, he is the author of many eBooks on SQL Server. Artemakis currently serves as the President of the Cyprus .NET User Group (CDNUG) and the International .NET Association Country Leader for Cyprus (INETA). Moreover, Artemakis teaches on Udemy, you can check his courses here.

Источник

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Question
I have this query:

SELECT
A.[ID EMPLEADO],A.EMPLEADO,
LTRIM(A.EMPRESA) AS EMPRESA,
CASE A.EMPRESA
WHEN ‘OHSC’ THEN ‘OHSC’
ELSE ‘OH’
END AS OH,
A.[CLAVE PUESTO PS],A.[PUESTO PS],
CONVERT(DECIMAL,A.[CLAVE CLIENTE]) AS [CLAVE CLIENTE],AN.CLIENTE,A.[CLAVE CC],A.CC,
A.FECHA_INGRESO,MONTH(A.FECHA_INGRESO) AS MES,YEAR(A.FECHA_INGRESO) AS AÑO,
AN.SUCURSAL,AN.[GERENCIA REGIONAL],
ISNULL(AN.CORPORATIVO,A.CLIENTE) AS CORPORATIVO,
AN.[PARQUE INDUSTRIAL],AN.GIRO,
GENERO,dbo.fn_RangoEdad(FECHA_NACIMIENTO) AS [RANGO EDAD]
FROM ALTAS A
LEFT JOIN AgrupadoresNomina AN ON A.[CLAVE CLIENTE]=AN.[CLAVE CLIENTE]
EXCEPT
SELECT * FROM vBajas_Cancelacion_PS

That query was working fine, but recently has started to give me the following message:

Msg 8114, Level 16, State 5, Line 1
Error converting data type varchar to float.

I’ve tried running the first SELECT, and everything is OK, running the second SELECT and everything is OK.

Also i’ve tried changing the EXCEPT sentence for NOT IN or EXIST (in this case it only shows me 34086 records, then gives me same error), removing the CONVERT from the query, but the result is the same, it gives me the «Error converting data type varchar
to float» message.

Can someone help me to get more ideas to find the record or why is now showing me this message?

Thanks in advance!

Answers

You are seeing that message because in one of those selects there is a float column and the corresponding column in the other select is a varchar. So when yoou run one select, you get a float result so there is no problem. When you run the other
select, you get a varchar result, so that is also no problem. But when you run them together with the EXCEPT, SQL must convert them to the same type in order to do the compare. Since float has a higher priority than varchar, SQL tries to convert
the value in the varchar column to a float. So for at least one row, you have a value in that varchar column which cannot be converted.

If you are on SQL 2012 or later, the best way to find the row(s) causing this error is to run (in the code below, replace <column name> with the name of the varchar column.
```
Select <column name>
From ...
Where Try_Convert(float, <column name>) Is Null And <column name> Is Not Null;
```
If you are on SQL 2008R2 or earlier, you cannot use Try_Convert, but you can do
```
Select <column name>
From ...
Where IsNumeric(<column name>) = 0;
```
That’s not quite as helpful as Try_Convert. If will probably find the row(s) but it might not depending exactly what is in the varchar column.

In addition to selecting the column name, you might also want to select any additional data needed to find the row with the bad data (such as the primary key columns).

Tom
- Marked as answer by
  
  Wednesday, February 20, 2013 3:48 AM
Does the column datatypes from both SELECT statements are compatible ?

As a test, try inserting the first SELECT statement results into a temp table and then check the data types of all those columns whether compatible with t all column data types of the table/view —

vBajas_Cancelacion_PS (second SELECT statement)
```
SELECT
A.[ID EMPLEADO],A.EMPLEADO,
LTRIM(A.EMPRESA) AS EMPRESA,
CASE A.EMPRESA
    WHEN 'OHSC' THEN 'OHSC'
    ELSE 'OH'
END AS OH,
A.[CLAVE PUESTO PS],A.[PUESTO PS],
CONVERT(DECIMAL,A.[CLAVE CLIENTE]) AS [CLAVE CLIENTE],AN.CLIENTE,A.[CLAVE CC],A.CC,
A.FECHA_INGRESO,MONTH(A.FECHA_INGRESO) AS MES,YEAR(A.FECHA_INGRESO) AS AÑO,
AN.SUCURSAL,AN.[GERENCIA REGIONAL],
ISNULL(AN.CORPORATIVO,A.CLIENTE) AS CORPORATIVO,
AN.[PARQUE INDUSTRIAL],AN.GIRO,
GENERO,dbo.fn_RangoEdad(FECHA_NACIMIENTO) AS [RANGO EDAD]
INTO FirstSelectResults -- Added this
FROM ALTAS A
LEFT JOIN AgrupadoresNomina AN ON A.[CLAVE CLIENTE]=AN.[CLAVE CLIENTE]
```
```
SP_HELP FirstSelectResults 
```
Narsimha
- Marked as answer by
  AlejandroVR
  Wednesday, February 20, 2013 3:49 AM

Источник

Published: 03 Jan 2017
Last Modified Date: 24 Aug 2022

Issue

When you try to extract a SQL Server data source, one of the following errors might occur:

An error occurred while communicating with data source <Data Source Name>.
SQL Server database error 0x80040E07: Error converting data type varchar to float.
[Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 11.0][SQL Server] Error converting data type varchar to float
Unable to create extract

Environment

Tableau Desktop
Microsoft SQL Server

Resolution

Use one of the following options, as appropriate to your data:

Create a calculated field to strip currency symbols and commas from your data before converting it.
Ensure that characters such as the plus (+) sign, minus (-) sign and decimal point (.) are positioned in a valid number format. For example, plus and minus signs can only be used to the left of a number (For example, -2).
If your string data values are currency, you can use rawSQL to cast the string to SQL Server’s MONEY data type before casting to a number. For example:

RAWSQL_REAL("CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(%1) = 1 THEN CAST(CAST(%1 AS MONEY) AS FLOAT) END", [<Your_String_Field>])

Cause

This error occurs because SQL Server is unable to convert string values to a numeric value if the string contains the following:

Currency symbol such as $, £, or ¥. For example, «$123».
Commas. For example, «100,000».
A single character of: currency symbol, comma(,), decimal point (.), plus (+) sign, or minus (-) sign. For example, «$».
More than one period. For example, «1.1.0».
Incorrectly positioned plus (+) or minus (-) signs. For example, «2-«.

Источник

A reader recently asked about a error converting data type error they received. Since this is a common issue, especially when numeric data is stored withing VARCHAR datatypes, I thought you would appreciate the answer I shared with them.

I’m using Windows 10 and SQL SMS 2014. When I run a query, I get the following error message:

“Error converting data type varchar to float.” Can you help in troubleshooting this error message?

Usually when SQL tries to convert a number, such as 1.25 from text to float it can do so easily; however, it does get hung up and will throw an error converting data if there are some non-numeric characters in the values.

For example, converting 1.25 would work, but converting $1.25 would not, since the server wouldn’t know how to deal with the “$“

My suspicion is that you have some data in the column you’re trying to convert isn’t “purely” numeric.

If you go through the data I be you see some alphabetical data there.

Here are some examples you can try in the query editor:

--EXAMPLES
DECLARE @myText as varchar(20)
DECLARE @myFloat as Money

--This Works!  :)
Print 'Try 1.20 * 1.10'
SET @myText = '1.20'
SET @myFloat = @myText * 1.10
Print @myFloat


--This Will throw an error   :(
PRINT 'Try $1.20 * 1.10'
SET @myText = '$1.20'
SET @myFloat = @myText * 1.10
Print @myFloat

Depending on what you’re trying to do with your data, such as using it in a query, you may have to use an IIF function in conjunction with ISNUMERIC to test if the column value can be converted, and if not, then display another suitable value.

The ISNUMERIC function returns 1 if the value tested is numeric; otherwise 0. It can be use to test up-front whether characters can be tested to numeric data types.

Here is an example:

SELECT IIF(ISNUMERIC(myTexttoFloatColumn) = 1,
           myTextToFloatColumn*1.50, 
           myTexttoFloatColumn)
FROM   mySampleTable

This would either multiply the coloumn by 1.5, if the column can be converted to a number, or just display the original value…

Hope this helps!

Источник

Reproducing the Data Type Conversion Error

Why you get this Conversion Error

How to Resolve the Conversion Issue

Regarding the message: error converting data type varchar to numeric

Watch the Live Demonstration on the VARCHAR to FLOAT Data Type Conversion Error

Learn essential SQL Server development tips! Enroll to our Online Course!

Featured Online Courses:

Read Also:

Recommended Software Tools

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Question

Answers

Issue

Environment

Resolution

Cause