Implicit Character-to-Period Conversion - Teradata Vantage - Analytics Database

SQL Data Types and Literals

Deployment
VantageCloud
VantageCore
Edition
VMware
Enterprise
IntelliFlex
Product
Analytics Database
Teradata Vantage
Release Number
17.20
Published
June 2022
ft:locale
en-US
ft:lastEdition
2025-11-06
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dita:id
exs1472253032394
lifecycle
latest
Product Category
Teradata Vantageā„¢

A CHARACTER or VARCHAR value is implicitly cast as a Period data type for an assignment, update, insert, merge, or parameter passing operation when the target site has a Period data type and for a comparison operation if the other operand has a Period data type. If any other non-Period value is directly assigned to a Period target site, an error is reported. In the same manner, if any other non-Period value is directly compared to a Period value, an error is reported.

In some cases, a value may be explicitly cast as a Period data type in order to avoid this error.

During implicit conversion from CHARACTER or VARCHAR to Period data type, the ANSI DateTime format string is used to interpret the beginning and ending element values in the character string, if the response mode is other than the Field mode or if the character string data is parameterized. If the response mode is Field mode and if the character string data is not parameterized, then the target period format is used to interpret the beginning and ending element values in the character string. The following table describes this in detail.

Mode Parameterized Data Present Format for Implicit Cast Interpretation
Field No Target format
Field Yes ANSI format
Non-field Yes ANSI format
Non-field No ANSI format

When the ANSI DateTime format string is used to interpret the beginning and ending element values in the character string, enclosing the beginning and ending values inside the apostrophes is optional. This relaxation applies even during an explicit cast.