cast or convert a float to nvarchar?

Question

I need to select from one column of datatype float and insert it in another column as nvarchar.

I tried to cast it: cast([Column_Name] as nvarchar(50))

Answer 1

If you're storing phone numbers in a float typed column (which is a bad idea) then they are presumably all integers and could be cast to int before casting to nvarchar.

So instead of:

select cast(cast(1234567890 as float) as nvarchar(50))
1.23457e+009

You would use:

select cast(cast(cast(1234567890 as float) as int) as nvarchar(50))
1234567890

In these examples the innermost cast(1234567890 as float) is used in place of selecting a value from the appropriate column.

I really recommend that you not store phone numbers in floats though!
What if the phone number starts with a zero?

select cast(0100884555 as float)
100884555

Whoops! We just stored an incorrect phone number...