mysql single quote in arithmatic functions - mysql

In mysql, if I do something like
round((amount * '0.75'),2)
it seem to work just fine like without single quotes for 0.75. Is there a difference in how mysql process this?

In the hope to close out this question, here's a link that explains type conversion in expression evaluation: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/type-conversion.html
When an operator is used with operands of different types, type
conversion occurs to make the operands compatible. Some conversions
occur implicitly. For example, MySQL automatically converts numbers to
strings as necessary, and vice versa.
mysql> SELECT 1+'1';
-> 2
In your case, MySQL sees arithmetic and performs implicit conversion on any string contained in the expression. There is going to be an overheard in converting a string to number, but it's negligible. My preference is to explicitly type out a number instead of quoting it. That method has helped me in code clarity and maintainability.

Related

Is it possible to create a T-SQL function that returns either a varchar() or nvarchar() depending on some database or table characteristic?

I see similar questions for Javascript and other languages, but I work in T-SQL.
I have a function that removes non-alpha characters from a string and the output is varchar(). I would like a similar function to do the same but output in nvarchar() to prevent implicit conversions when I am dealing with nvarchar() data.
I know I could simply have two functions and call the appropriate one when needed, but for backwards compatibility, it would be nice to have a single function that could check the table being updated, or something along those lines, and output the appropriate varchar() or nvarchar() string. Then I could universally replace all occurrences of this function with the single 'one-size-fits-all' function.
Has anybody ever seen or come up with something like this, or is this simply too much to ask of a function, and I should consider using a stored procedure?

Ways MySQL/MariaDB could silently be changing values when storing

I'm searching for cases in MySQL/MariaDB where the value transmitted when storing will differ from the value that can be retrieved later on. I'm only interested in fields with non-binary string data types like VARCHAR and *TEXT.
I'd like to get a more comprehensive understanding on how much a stored value can be trusted. This would especially be interesting for cases where the output just lacks certain characters (like with the escape character example below) as this is specifically dangerous when validating.
So, this boils down to: Can you create an input string (and/or define an environment) where this doesn't output <value> in the second statement?
INSERT INTO t SET v = <value>, id = 1; // success
SELECT v FROM t WHERE id = 1;
Things I can think of:
strings containing escaping (\a → a)
truncated if too long
character encoding of the table not supporting the input
If something fails silently probably also depends on how strict the SQL mode is set (like with the last two examples).
Thanks a lot in advance for your input!
you can trust that all databases do, what the standards purpose, with strings and integer it is simple, because it saves the binary representation of that number or character in your choosen character set.
Decimal Double and single values are different, because the can't be saved directly and so it comes to fractals see decimal representation
That also follows standards, but you have to account with it.

MySQL Escape characters

I'm having a really hard time figuring out how to replace a special character with another in SQL (MySQL syntax). I've already tried with REPLACE function without success. What I would like to do is:
From this string:
"C:\foo\bar\file.txt"
Obtain this string:
"C:\\foo\\bar\\file.txt"
As I thought - this is an XY problem. MySQL does not require anything from the path. What it does require though is its input to be syntactical. In input, the string literal interprets the sequences of backslash and another character as "escape", which removes special meaning from the next character. Since backslash is such a special character, it can be escaped to remove its special significance: one writes \\ to get a string with a single backslash.
What this means is, if you write 'C:\\foo\\bar\\file.txt' in an SQL command, MySQL will understand it as the string 'C:\foo\bar\file.txt' (like in my comment under your question). If you write 'C:\foo\bar\file.txt', MySQL will understand the backslash as removing the special significance from letters f, b and f (not that they had any in the first place), and the string it will end up with will be 'C:foobarfile.txt'.
Once the string is inside MySQL, it is correct, no replacements are necessary. Thus, you cannot use MySQL's REPLACE to prepare the string for input to MySQL - it is way too late for this. It is kind of like punching the baby in the stomach to pre-chew its food after it has already eaten it, it doesn't work that way and it hurts the baby.
Rather than that, use the language that you use to interface with the database (you didn't tag it, so I can't give you the details) to properly handle the strings. Many languages have functions that will correctly escape strings for you for use by MySQL. Even better, learn about prepared statements and parametrised queries, which completely remove the need for explicit escaping.
The best reference on parametrised queries I can recommend, with remedies for multiple languages, is the Bobby Tables site.
REPLACE function should do the job for you - https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/replace.html.
How are you passing the string into REPLACE function?

MySQL integer quotation marks?

When posting integer values into a MySQL database should I be using quotation marks?
what is the difference between using quotation marks and not using quotation marks?
This is more of a general programming answer in this case IMO. If you want to use integers, then you should not treat them like strings (use quotation marks). In most cases, you are forcing the processing engine to cast it from a string to an int. So, why add the extra work if it is already an int to begin with.
In most cases you won't notice any difference, but the difference might be significant when you pass a lot of numerical ids to IN operator. The operator sorts its arguments to make random access more sequential, and string arguments might confuse the optimizer.

SQL Server Integration Services - Incremental data load hash comparison

Using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) to perform incremental data load, comparing a hash of to-be-imported and existing row data. I am using this:
http://ssismhash.codeplex.com/
to create the SHA512 hash for comparison. When trying to compare data import hash and existing hash from database using a Conditional Split task (expression is NEW_HASH == OLD_HASH) I get the following error upon entering the expression:
The data type "DT_BYTES" cannot be used with binary operator "==". The type of one or both of the operands is not supported for the operation. To perform this operation, one or both operands need to be explicitly cast with a cast operator.
Attempts at casting each column to a string (DT_WSTR, 64) before comparison have resulted in a truncation error.
Is there a better way to do this, or am I missing some small detail?
Thanks
Have you tried expanding the length beyond 64? I believe DT_BYTES is valid up to 8000 characters. I verified the following are legal cast destinations for DT_BYTES based on the books online article:
DT_I4
DT_UI4
DT_I8
DT_UI8
DT_STR
DT_WSTR
DT_GUID
DT_IMAGE
I also ran a test in BIDS and verified it had no problem comparing the values once I cast them to a sufficiently long data type.
SHA512 is a bit much as your chances of actually colliding are 1 in 2^256. SHA512 always outputs 512 bits which is 64 bytes. I have a similar situation where I check the hash of an incoming binary file. I use a Lookup Transformation instead of a Conditional Split.
This post is older but in order to help other users...
The answer is that in SSIS you cannot compare binary data using the == operator.
What I've seen is that people will most often convert (and store) the hashed value as varchar or nvarchar which can be compared in SSIS.
I believe the other users have answered your issue with "truncation" correctly.