Function Reference > Functions > TO_CHAR (Dates)

TO_CHAR (Dates)

Converts dates to character strings. TO_CHAR also converts numeric values to strings. You can convert the date into any format using the TO_CHAR format strings.

Syntax

TO_CHAR( date [,format] )

Argument	Required/ Optional	Description
date	Required	Date/Time datatype. Passes the date values you want to convert to character strings. You can enter any valid expression.
format	Optional	Enter a valid TO_CHAR format string. The format string defines the format of the return value, not the format for the values in the date argument. If you omit the format string, the function returns a string based on the default date format of MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS.

Return Value

String.

NULL if a value passed to the function is NULL.

Example

The following expression converts the dates in the DATE_PROMISED column to text in the format MON DD YYYY:

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'MON DD YYYY' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
Apr 1 1998 12:00:10AM	'Apr 01 1998'
Feb 22 1998 01:31:10PM	'Feb 22 1998'
Oct 24 1998 02:12:30PM	'Oct 24 1998'
NULL	NULL

If you omit the format_string argument, TO_CHAR returns a string in the default date format:

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
Apr 1 1998 12:00:10AM	'04/01/1997 00:00:01'
Feb 22 1998 01:31:10PM	'02/22/1997 13:31:10'
Oct 24 1998 02:12:30PM	'10/24/1997 14:12:30'
NULL	NULL

The following expressions return the day of the week for each date in a column:

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'D' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
04-01-1997 12:00:10AM	'3'
02-22-1997 01:31:10PM	'7'
10-24-1997 02:12:30PM	'6'
NULL	NULL

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'DAY' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
04-01-1997 12:00:10AM	'Tuesday'
02-22-1997 01:31:10PM	'Saturday'
10-24-1997 02:12:30PM	'Friday'
NULL	NULL

The following expression returns the day of the month for each date in a column:

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'DD' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
04-01-1997 12:00:10AM	'01'
02-22-1997 01:31:10PM	'22'
10-24-1997 02:12:30PM	'24'
NULL	NULL

The following expression returns the day of the year for each date in a column:

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'DDD' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
04-01-1997 12:00:10AM	'091'
02-22-1997 01:31:10PM	'053'
10-24-1997 02:12:30PM	'297'
NULL	NULL

The following expressions return the hour of the day for each date in a column:

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'HH' )
TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'HH12' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
04-01-1997 12:00:10AM	'12'
02-22-1997 01:31:10PM	'01'
10-24-1997 02:12:30PM	'02'
NULL	NULL

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'HH24' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
04-01-1997 12:00:10AM	'00'
02-22-1997 01:31:10PM	'13'
10-24-1997 11:12:30PM	'23'
NULL	NULL

The following expression converts date values to MJD values expressed as strings:

TO_CHAR( SHIP_DATE, 'J')

SHIP_DATE	RETURN_VALUE
Dec 31 1999 03:59:59PM	2451544
Jan 1 1900 01:02:03AM	2415021

The following expression converts dates to strings in the format MM/DD/YY:

TO_CHAR( SHIP_DATE, 'MM/DD/RR')

SHIP_DATE	RETURN_VALUE
12/31/1999 01:02:03AM	12/31/99
09/15/1996 03:59:59PM	09/15/96
05/17/2003 12:13:14AM	05/17/03

You can also use the format string SSSSS in a TO_CHAR expression. For example, the following expression converts the dates in the SHIP_DATE column to strings representing the total seconds since midnight:

TO_CHAR( SHIP_DATE, 'SSSSS')

SHIP_DATE	RETURN_VALUE
12/31/1999 01:02:03AM	3783
09/15/1996 03:59:59PM	86399

In TO_CHAR expressions, the YY format string produces the same results as the RR format string.

The following expression converts dates to strings in the format MM/DD/YY:

TO_CHAR( SHIP_DATE, 'MM/DD/YY')

SHIP_DATE	RETURN_VALUE
12/31/1999 01:02:03AM	12/31/99
09/15/1996 03:59:59PM	09/15/96
05/17/2003 12:13:14AM	05/17/03

The following expression returns the week of the month for each date in a column:

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'W' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
04-01-1997 12:00:10AM	'01'
02-22-1997 01:31:10AM	'04'
10-24-1997 02:12:30PM	'04'
NULL	NULL

The following expression returns the week of the year for each date in a column:

TO_CHAR( DATE_PROMISED, 'WW' )

DATE_PROMISED	RETURN VALUE
04-01-1997 12:00:10PM	'18'
02-22-1997 01:31:10AM	'08'
10-24-1997 02:12:30AM	'43'
NULL	NULL

Tip

You can combine TO_CHAR and TO_DATE to convert a numeric value for a month into the text value for a month using a function such as:

TO_CHAR( TO_DATE( numeric_month, 'MM' ), 'MONTH' )