varchar, text and cidr

so i'm trying to puzzle out how to do something in a client's database.
he's using postgresql 7.3.2 on a rh 8.0 system.

he has a column with type varchar(18) containing cidr blocks (yes, i know
he should use the cidr type, but he didn't.)

in my testing, i've determined that i can cast text to cidr, but i can't
cast varchar( limit) to cidr.

i've worked out that i can do this:

select * from vctest where '192.0.2.5'::cidr << baz::text::cidr;
baz
--------------
192.0.2.0/24

but is there any particular reason why i have to jump through the
typecasting hoop twice here?

thanks,
richard
--
Richard Welty rwelty(at)averillpark(dot)net
Averill Park Networking 518-573-7592
Java, PHP, PostgreSQL, Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security