Warning

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TO_CHAR

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.

Last modified: April 24, 2021