TO_NUMBER(x [, format]) converts x to a number. : TO_NUMBER « Conversion Functions « Oracle PL/SQL Tutorial

1. Oracle PL/SQL Tutorial
2. Conversion Functions
3. TO_NUMBER

The TO_NUMBER function converts a character string of type CHAR or VARCHAR2 into a number.

The Syntax for the TO_NUMBER Function

TO_NUMBER(character_string, format, NLS_Params)

After the format mask are several possible NLS parameters:

1. NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS -- Specifies characters to use for group separators and the decimal point.
2. NLS_CURRENCY -- Specifies the local currency.
3. NLS_ISO_CURRENCY -- Character(s) to represent the ISO currency symbol.

You can provide an optional format string to indicate the format of x.

The following example converts the string 97.13 to a number using TO_NUMBER():

SQL>
SQL> SELECT TO_NUMBER('97.13') FROM dual;

TO_NUMBER('97.13')
------------------
             97.13

SQL>