# TO\_CHAR

Converts a `DATE`, `DATETIME`, `DATETIME(6)`, `TIME`, `TIMESTAMP` or `TIMESTAMP(6)` value to a string.

## Syntax

```
TO_CHAR ( convert_from_value, result_format )

```

## Arguments

* convert\_from\_value: Value of one of the following data types: `DATE`, `DATETIME`, `DATETIME(6)`, `TIME`, `TIMESTAMP` or `TIMESTAMP(6)`.
* result\_format: A format string, comprised of one or more of the format specifiers listed in the table below:

## Format Specifiers

| Meaning                                 | Format Specifier                                                                                                              |
| --------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Four digit year                         | `YYYY`                                                                                                                        |
| Two digit year                          | `YY`                                                                                                                          |
| Two digit year (20th century for 00-49) | `RR`                                                                                                                          |
| Three letter month (Jan - Dec)          | `MON`                                                                                                                         |
| Month (January - December)              | `MONTH`                                                                                                                       |
| Month as a digit (1 - 12)               | `MM`                                                                                                                          |
| Day of the week as a digit (1 - 7)      | `D`                                                                                                                           |
| Three letter day (Sun - Sat)            | `DY`                                                                                                                          |
| Day (1 - 31)                            | `DD`                                                                                                                          |
| Hour (0 - 23)                           | `HH24`                                                                                                                        |
| Hour (1 - 12)                           | `HH`or`HH12`                                                                                                                  |
| Minute (0 - 59)                         | `MI`                                                                                                                          |
| Second (0 - 59)                         | `SS`                                                                                                                          |
| Precision for seconds                   | `FFn`, where`1`<=`n`<=`9`and`n`is the number of decimals of precision. If`n`is excluded, indicates two decimals of precision. |
| AM or PM                                | `AM`,`PM`,`A.M.`,`P.M.`                                                                                                       |

> **❗ Important**: `TO_CHAR`’s format string may contain characters that are not format specifiers. These characters appear as literals in the resulting string.

## Examples

The following examples use the `:>` operator to cast a string to a `DATE`, `TIMESTAMP`, or similar type. `TO_CHAR` then converts the casted type to a string.

| Call to`TO_CHAR`                                                                          | Result                     |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('2018-03-01' :> DATE, 'MM/DD');`                                          | `03/01`                    |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('2018-03-01' :> DATE, 'The year is YYYY');`                               | `The year is 2018`         |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('2018-03-01 05:10:38' :> DATE, 'MM/DD/YYYY');`                            | `03/01/2018`               |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('2018-03-01 05:10:38' :> DATE, 'DY MONTH DD, YYYY');`                     | `Thu Mar 01, 2018`         |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('2018-03-01 05:10:38' :> DATETIME, 'MM/DD/YYYY');`                        | `03/01/2018`               |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('2018-03-01 05:10:38.123456' :> DATETIME(6), 'MM/DD/YYYY HH:MI:SS:FF4');` | `03/01/2018 05:10:38:1234` |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('05:10:38' :> TIME, 'The time is HH:MM:SS');`                             | `The time is 05:10:38`     |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('18-03-01' :> TIMESTAMP, 'MM/DD/YYYY');`                                  | `03/01/2018`               |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('18-03-01 05:10:38.123456' :> TIMESTAMP(6), 'MM/DD/YYYY HH:MI:SS:FF4');`  | `03/01/2018 05:10:38.1234` |
| `SELECT TO_CHAR('2018-04-01 08:00:00.123456' :> DATETIME(6), 'PM');`                      | `AM`                       |

> **❗ Important**: When you call `TO_CHAR` and don’t explicitly type-cast the first argument, `TO_CHAR` will implicitly type-cast the first argument to `TIMESTAMP(6)`.When you call `TO_CHAR` and specify a temporal-type column in the first argument, no typecast is needed.

***

Modified at: April 24, 2021

Source: [/cloud/reference/sql-reference/date-and-time-functions/to-char/](https://docs.singlestore.com/cloud/reference/sql-reference/date-and-time-functions/to-char/)

(An index of the documentation is available at /llms.txt)