Casting Char to Integer in Django ORM Queries

In Django ORM, the filter() method automatically converts character fields to integers while querying, making it easy to filter character fields that represent numerical values. However, if you need to explicitly cast a character field to an integer for ordering or other purposes, Django provides several options.

One approach is to use the __cast() method, which allows you to cast a field to a specific data type. For example:

students.objects.filter(student_id__contains="97318").order_by('-student_id__cast(IntegerField)')

Another alternative is to use the annotate() method to create a new field that is cast to the desired data type. This can be useful if you need to use the casted field in subsequent queries or calculations:

from django.db.models import IntegerField, Cast

students = students.objects.annotate(
    student_id_int=Cast('student_id', IntegerField())
)
students.order_by('-student_id_int')

Finally, for more complex casting operations, you can use the RawSQL() or Extra() functions to execute raw SQL queries that include the necessary casting. However, this approach is generally not recommended for ORM-based queries, as it can lead to performance issues and security vulnerabilities.