TSQL - Cast string to integer or return default value

If you are on SQL Server 2012 (or newer):

Use the TRY_CONVERT function.

If you are on SQL Server 2005, 2008, or 2008 R2:

Create a user defined function. This will avoid the issues that Fedor Hajdu mentioned with regards to currency, fractional numbers, etc:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.TryConvertInt(@Value varchar(18))
RETURNS int
AS
BEGIN
    SET @Value = REPLACE(@Value, ',', '')
    IF ISNUMERIC(@Value + 'e0') = 0 RETURN NULL
    IF ( CHARINDEX('.', @Value) > 0 AND CONVERT(bigint, PARSENAME(@Value, 1)) <> 0 ) RETURN NULL
    DECLARE @I bigint =
        CASE
        WHEN CHARINDEX('.', @Value) > 0 THEN CONVERT(bigint, PARSENAME(@Value, 2))
        ELSE CONVERT(bigint, @Value)
        END
    IF ABS(@I) > 2147483647 RETURN NULL
    RETURN @I
END
GO

-- Testing
DECLARE @Test TABLE(Value nvarchar(50))    -- Result
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '1234'            -- 1234
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '1,234'           -- 1234
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '1234.0'          -- 1234
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '-1234'           -- -1234
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '$1234'           -- NULL
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '1234e10'         -- NULL
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '1234 5678'       -- NULL
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '123-456'         -- NULL
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '1234.5'          -- NULL
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT '123456789000000' -- NULL
INSERT INTO @Test SELECT 'N/A'             -- NULL
SELECT Value, dbo.TryConvertInt(Value) FROM @Test

Reference: I used this page extensively when creating my solution.

Yes :). Try this:

DECLARE @text AS NVARCHAR(10)

SET @text = '100'
SELECT CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(@text) = 1 THEN CAST(@text AS INT) ELSE NULL END
-- returns 100

SET @text = 'XXX'
SELECT CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(@text) = 1 THEN CAST(@text AS INT) ELSE NULL END
-- returns NULL

ISNUMERIC() has a few issues pointed by Fedor Hajdu.

It returns true for strings like $ (is currency), , or . (both are separators), + and -.