On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 7:14 PM, Stefan Keller <sfkeller@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > But this only works if the input is a clean list of number characters already! > Anything other than this will issue an error: > > postgres=# SELECT '10'::int; > > After trying hard to cope with anything possibly as an input string I > found this: > > postgres=# SELECT to_number('0'||mytextcolumn, > '99999999999.000')::int FROM mytable; I came across the same issue, specifically wanting semantics like C's atoi function. Some discussion on this list turned up a few options. Beginning of thread, including one possibility: http://osdir.com/ml/postgresql-pgsql-general/2012-03/msg00090.html Another well-researched option, with slightly different semantics: http://osdir.com/ml/postgresql-pgsql-general/2012-03/msg00094.html Hope that helps! ChrisA -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general