Richard Huxton <dev@archonet.com> writes:
> Since your error seems to be complaining about a space, I'd guess you've got
> other than numeric values in _aaa.
In fact, with a bit of experimentation I see the same error message:
regression=# select to_number('12345', '99999');to_number
----------- 12345
(1 row)
regression=# select to_number('1234 ', '99999');to_number
----------- 1234
(1 row)
regression=# select to_number(' 1234', '99999');to_number
----------- 1234
(1 row)
regression=# select to_number(' ', '99999');
ERROR: invalid input syntax for type numeric: " "
regression=# select to_number('zzzzz', '99999');
ERROR: invalid input syntax for type numeric: " "
regression=#
The error message's report of the input string seems a tad misleading,
especially in the last case. (Karel, is this fixable?) But anyway,
it sure looks like the problem is bad input data.
regards, tom lane