CAST and CONVERT in SQL Server

CAST says what type you want. CONVERT can also take a style number, which is how people still format dates as yyyy-mm.

Both

SELECT CAST(total_amount AS int) AS pounds_only,
       CONVERT(char(10), order_date, 23) AS iso_date,
       CONVERT(char(7), order_date, 120) AS year_month
FROM Orders;

Style 23 is yyyy-mm-dd. Style 120 is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss, which is why char(7) becomes yyyy-mm. See group by month.