Data Base Tips/ SQL Commands...

Saturday, July 23, 2005

To_Char Function

In Oracle/PLSQL, the to_char function converts a number or date to a string.

The syntax for the to_char function is:

 

to_char (value, [format_mask], [nls_language] )

 

value can either be a number or date that will be converted to a string.

format_mask is optional.  This is the format that will be used to convert value to a string.

nls_language is optional.  This is the nls language used to convert value to a string.

 

Examples - Numbers
 

The following are number examples for the to_char function.

to_char (1210.73, '9999.9')

would return '1210.7'

to_char (1210.73, '9,999.99')

would return '1,210.73'

to_char (1210.73, '$9,999.00')

would return '$1,210.73'

to_char (21, '000099')

would return '000021'

 

Examples – Dates

 

The following is a list of valid parameters when the to_char function is used to convert a date to a string.  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

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.


 

The following are date examples for the to_char function.

 

to_char (sysdate, 'yyyy/mm/dd');

would return '2003/07/09'

to_char (sysdate, 'Month DD, YYYY');

would return 'July 09, 2003'

to_char (sysdate, 'FMMonth DD, YYYY');

would return 'July 9, 2003'

to_char (sysdate, 'MON DDth, YYYY');

would return 'JUL 09TH, 2003'

to_char (sysdate, 'FMMON DDth, YYYY');

would return 'JUL 9TH, 2003'

to_char (sysdate, 'FMMon ddth, YYYY');

would return 'Jul 9th, 2003'

 

You will notice that in some examples, the format_mask parameter begins with "FM".  This means that zeros and blanks are suppressed.  This can be seen in the examples below.

 

to_char (sysdate, 'FMMonth DD, YYYY');

would return 'July 9, 2003'

to_char (sysdate, 'FMMON DDth, YYYY');

would return 'JUL 9TH, 2003'

to_char (sysdate, 'FMMon ddth, YYYY');

would return 'Jul 9th, 2003'

 

The zeros have been suppressed so that the day component shows as "9" as opposed to "09".

 


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