Convert number into base 36 string

[Benoit St-Jean]

Anyone has any idea why this (see code below) does not work? I'm simply trying to convert a number into a base-36 string. The "panic" variable is not part of the original code but don't remove it since my function goes into an infinite loop without it!

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DROP FUNCTION PRINTBASE36;
DELIMITER //

CREATE FUNCTION PRINTBASE36(num BIGINT)
RETURNS VARCHAR(255)
DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN
DECLARE panic, newnum, nextnum BIGINT;
DECLARE stream VARCHAR(255);

SET panic = 0;
SET stream = '';
SET newnum = num;
WHILE newnum > 0 DO
SET panic = panic + 1;
IF panic > 1000 THEN
RETURN 'Failed... Infinite loop!';
END IF;
SET nextnum = newnum % 36;
SET stream = CONCAT(stream, ORD(newnum - (nextnum * 36)));
SET newnum = nextnum;
END WHILE;

RETURN REVERSE(stream);
END;
//
delimiter ;
select PRINTBASE36(55);