?:: (triple colon sign) operator

Applies to: check marked yes Databricks Runtime 15.3 and later

Casts the value expr to the target data type type with error toleration. This operator is a synonym for try_cast function.

Syntax 

expr ?:: type

Arguments

  • expr: Any castable expression.

Returns

The result is type type.

Examples 

> SELECT '20'?::INTEGER;
 20

> SELECT 'twenty'?::INTEGER;
 NULL

> SELECT typeof(NULL?::STRING);
 string