Convert number to varchar datatype

Question

hi,
I am working in oracle 9i. i am using two variables
v_trigger_time varchar2(1000);
v_min_run_date varchar2(1000);
v_int_count NUMBER;
datatype as VARCHAR2 and Number .ie ) HH:MI
here is the query :
select to_char(min(RUN_START_TIME),'HH24:MI')
into v_min_run_date;
select to_char(min(RUN_START_TIME),'DY')
into v_run_date;
select count(*)
into v_int_count
from temp_int_list
where
trigger_time = v_min_run_date
in the above query ,
trigger_time and v_min_run_date are in varchar datatype . but the v_int_count is in number datatype,
I need the difference between v_min_run_date and trigger_time using sysdate.
but the sysdate datatype is in date format. how to fetch the differneces between these two columns using varchar datatype in sysdate functions.
ie ) 11:00 to 12:00 am
rgds,.,.

Answer 1

how to get the differences between these two sysdate.We can get the difference between two dates as an INTERVAL datatype:
SQL> select ((sysdate+345/1440)-sysdate) DAY TO SECOND from dual
  2  /
((SYSDATE+345/1440)-SYSDATE)DAYTOSECOND
+000000000 05:45:00
SQL>We can get the hours and minutes using the EXTRACT function:
SQL> with t as
  2  ( select ((sysdate+345/1440)-sysdate) DAY TO SECOND as interval from dual)
  3  select extract(HOUR from interval) as hours
  4         , extract(MINUTE from interval) as minutes
  5  from t
  6  /
     HOURS    MINUTES
         5         45
SQL> Cheers, APC
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