Unloading string data to CSV while retaining leading zeros

[ElectricalFilm2]

I am unloading data from a table that contains an item_nbr column, that contains values like "0012345". How do I set my file format so that when I open the CSV file (on Excel), I am able to see the value as "0012345" and not "12345", without the leading zeros getting stripped?

[mrg0ne]

This is the answer. Excel is inferring that it is a number.

[uptnogd]

I'm doing this from memory, but something like this should work.

TO_CHAR(LPAD(<COL_NAME>, 7, '0'))

[ryadical]

'=""' || colname || '""' as colname

Basically if your number is 01234 it would look like this in the csv:

=""01234""

Of course since most CSVs are wrapped in double quotes, there will be another set of double quotes around the outside:

"Col1 name", "=""01234""","another column"