Question

I have am getting an error when I try and alter a date column:

Arithmetic overflow error for type varchar, value = 20100601.000000.

I would like it to go from float to the datetime format of 20100601.

Since Alter doesn’t work, how can I use cast or convert to change the datatype for every entry in the table?

Answer 1

UPDATE table_name
SET new_date_column=CAST(CAST(CAST( old_date_column AS INT) AS VARCHAR) AS DATETIME)

This will update the new column