“It works, just not for the reason you think”

A somewhat mistaken attempt to format a number left-padded with up to six zeroes, made me cringe a little:

SELECT LPAD(number_column, 6, 000000) FROM ...

Yes, it does work (the domain of number_column is limited to positive integers), but not for the reason the writer thought, I think.

(Hint: what is the data type of the third parameter to LPAD?)

Jeffrey Kemp 4 November 2010

code-snippet-of-the-day / SQL /

About Jeffrey Kemp

Application Designer & Developer at Oracle specialising in Oracle APEX (Application Express), Oracle SQL and PL/SQL. Oracle ACE Alumni ♠️. Piano player, father, husband, Christian. The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.