In Oracle/PLSQL, the to_date function converts a string to a date.
Syntax
The syntax for the to_date function is:
to_date( string1, [ format_mask ], [ nls_language ] )
string1 is the string that will be converted to a date.
format_mask is optional. This is the format that will be used to convert string1 to a date.
nls_language is optional. This is the nls language used to convert string1 to a date.
The following is a list of options for the format_mask parameter. These parameters can be used in many combinations.
Parameter | Explanation |
---|---|
YEAR | Year, spelled out |
YYYY | 4-digit year |
YYY YY Y | Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of year. |
IYY IY I | Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of ISO year. |
IYYY | 4-digit year based on the ISO standard |
RRRR | Accepts a 2-digit year and returns a 4-digit year. A value between 0-49 will return a 20xx year. A value between 50-99 will return a 19xx year. |
Q | Quarter of year (1, 2, 3, 4; JAN-MAR = 1). |
MM | Month (01-12; JAN = 01). |
MON | Abbreviated name of month. |
MONTH | Name of month, padded with blanks to length of 9 characters. |
RM | Roman numeral month (I-XII; JAN = I). |
WW | Week of year (1-53) where week 1 starts on the first day of the year and continues to the seventh day of the year. |
W | Week of month (1-5) where week 1 starts on the first day of the month and ends on the seventh. |
IW | Week of year (1-52 or 1-53) based on the ISO standard. |
D | Day of week (1-7). |
DAY | Name of day. |
DD | Day of month (1-31). |
DDD | Day of year (1-366). |
DY | Abbreviated name of day. |
J | Julian day; the number of days since January 1, 4712 BC. |
HH | Hour of day (1-12). |
HH12 | Hour of day (1-12). |
HH24 | Hour of day (0-23). |
MI | Minute (0-59). |
SS | Second (0-59). |
SSSSS | Seconds past midnight (0-86399). |
FF | Fractional seconds. Use a value from 1 to 9 after FF to indicate the number of digits in the fractional seconds. For example, 'FF4'. |
AM, A.M., PM, or P.M. | Meridian indicator |
AD or A.D | AD indicator |
BC or B.C. | BC indicator |
TZD | Daylight savings information. For example, 'PST' |
TZH | Time zone hour. |
TZM | Time zone minute. |
TZR | Time zone region. |
Applies To
- Oracle 11g, Oracle 10g, Oracle 9i, Oracle 8i
For Example
to_date('2003/07/09', 'yyyy/mm/dd') | would return a date value of July 9, 2003 |
to_date('070903', 'MMDDYY') | would return a date value of July 9, 2003 |
to_date('20020315', 'yyyymmdd') | would return a date value of Mar 15, 2002 |