Re: How to check if a variable is numeric in MySQL

[Filipe Silva]

Hi Javin,

You can choose between client side and server side conversions here.

In client side, either:
1. select column as is, convert using Double.parseDouble(ResultSet.getString(n)) and catch NumberFormatException for bad conversions.
or
2. select column as is, convert using internal driver conversion ResultSet.getDouble(n) and catch SQLException for bad conversions.

In server side, either use CAST or CONVERT field within the SELECT statement [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/cast-functions.html#function_cast], then retrieve it with ResultSet.getDouble(n).

I'm using doubles in my suggestions but you should use the numeric type that's more appropriate to your case.

Please note that these two alternatives are not equivalent. Server side converting will always return a valid number, eventually 0 or 0.0 and can produce some warnings, while client side conversions throw exceptions in case of failure.