@Scott Stroz You got some 'splainin' to do! This is in MySQL • I have two tables,

x

and

y

. •

x.cpt_code

is

nvarchar(255)

•

y.cpt_code_id

is an

int.

•

x.cpt_code

can have a comma delimited list of numbers • I need to join the two tables on the numeric value of the

int

. Figured that if I cast the string to an

int

, then the list would wash out. Not the case.

x on cast(x.cpt_code as unsigned) = y.cpt_code_id

matches a single number

a

to a list of numbers where the first element is

a

.

x on x.cpt_code = y.cpt_code_id

does the exact same thing. However, if I cast the

int

to

nchar

, the string matches only when string is the exact numeric value of the

int

.

on x.cpt_code = cast(y.cpt_code_id as nchar)

For example:

select CAST('76830,76856' as UNSIGNED) as id;
Returns 76830