Change NULL values in Datetime format to empty string

Question

I have a table which contains \'NULL\' values which are of type \'Datetime\'. Now i have to convert those into empty string but when when i use convert function

Answer 1

I had something similar, and here's (an edited) version of what I ended up using successfully:

ISNULL(CONVERT(VARCHAR(50),[column name goes here],[date style goes here] ),'')

Here's why this works: If you select a date which is NULL, it will show return NULL, though it is really stored as 01/01/1900. This is why an ISNULL on the date field, while you're working with any date data type will not treat this as a NULL, as it is technically not being stored as a NULL.

However, once you convert it to a new datatype, it will convert it as a NULL, and at that point, you're ISNULL will work as you expect it to work.

I hope this works out for you as well!

~Eli

Update, nearly one year later:

I had a similar situation, where I needed the output to be of the date data-type, and my aforementioned solution didn't work (it only works if you need it displayed as a date, not be of the date data type.

If you need it to be of the date data-type, there is a way around it, and this is to nest a REPLACE within an ISNULL, the following worked for me:

Select 
    ISNULL(
        REPLACE(
            [DATE COLUMN NAME],
            '1900-01-01',
            ''
        ),
    '') AS [MeaningfulAlias]