Cast shape number field to string

[gilKrips]

Hi, i'm trying to cast a numeric field in a shapefile feature class to string.
I tried writing "CAST("fid" as char(20)) like '%50%'" and expected it to return featues that the fid value contains the request digits but it does not seem to work.
Any suggestions?

[VinceAngelo]

Shapefiles aren't SQL entities -- they don't support a cast function (I don't think
file geodatabase supports casting either). For ArcSDE tables the exact syntax
would differ by RDBMS.

- V

[gilKrips]

Understood, i'll do it the old fashion way with cursor..
Thanks

[LanceShipman]

File Geodatabase does support CAST.

[gilKrips]

File Geodatabase does support CAST.

Yes i know that.. i just didn't knew how to cast shapes or if its even possible
I see now that its not so ill run on the features with a search cursor and search manually.
with sde, gdb and mdb i am good
thank you

[gilKrips]

Found the answer in here
http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=159&f=1707&t=280410

[DuncanHornby]

Michelle Mathias‌ can you resurrect the thread that "gil Krips" found as I need to see the answer as it may solve my problem.