The TO_NUMBER function converts a TEXT expression to a number.
To_number syntax
TO_NUMBER( text, [ format_mask ], [ nls_params ] )
To_number example
select to_number('1234.82', '9999.99') from dual; Result: 1234.82 select to_number('1234.82', '9999.00') from dual; Result: 1234.82 select to_number('389', '999') from dual; Result: 389 select to_number('74', '99') from dual; Result: 74 select to_number('-$17,107.28', '$99,999.99') from dual; Result: -17107.28 select to_number('$17,107,789.28', '$999,999,999.99') from dual; Result: 17107789.28