The TO_CHAR function supports the date-format and the time-format strings to control the output of date and time values. The format strings consist of keywords that SQL interprets and replaces with formatted values.

Syntax

TO_CHAR ( expresion[ , format_string] )

Parameters

expression

Converts to character form. It must evaluate to a value of the date or time data type to use the format_string.

format_string

Specifies the format of the output. SQL ignores the format string if the expression argument does not evaluate to a date or time.

Supply the format strings, enclosed in single quotation marks, as the second argument to the function. The format strings are case sensitive. For instance, SQL replaces DAY with all uppercase letters, but follows the case of Day. For more information, see Format_string specifier.

Example

The following example illustrates the difference between how a date value displays with and without the TO_CHAR function:

SELECT C1 FROM T2;
C1     
--      
09/29/1952 
1 record selected
  SELECT TO_CHAR(C1, 'Day, Month ddth'),
     TO_CHAR(C2, 'HH12 a.m.') FROM T2;
 TO_CHAR(C1,DAY, MONTH DDTH) TO_CHAR(C2,HH12 A.M.)
--------------------------- --------------------- 
Monday  , September 29th  02 p.m.        
1 record selected