ORACLE - Date Format

 

Default Date Format

The default date format is specified either explicitly with the initialization parameter NLS_DATE_FORMAT or implicitly with the initialization parameter NLS_TERRITORY. For information on these parameters, see Oracle8 Reference.

You can change the default date format for your session with the ALTER SESSION command.

Maximum Length

The total length of a date format model cannot exceed 22 characters.

Date Format Elements

A date format model is composed of one or more date format elements as listed in Table 3-15. For input format models, format items cannot appear twice, and format items that represent similar information cannot be combined. For example, you cannot use 'SYYYY' and 'BC' in the same format string. Only some of the date format elements can be used in the TO_DATE function as noted in Table 3-15.

Table 3-15 Date Format Elements

Element	Specify in TO_DATE?	Meaning
- / , . ; : 'text'	Yes	Punctuation and quoted text is reproduced in the result.
AD A.D.	Yes	AD indicator with or without periods.
AM A.M.	Yes	Meridian indicator with or without periods.
BC B.C.	Yes	BC indicator with or without periods.
CC SCC	No	One greater than the first two digits of a four-digit year; "S" prefixes BC dates with "-". For example, '20' from '1900'.
D	Yes	Day of week (1-7).
DAY	Yes	Name of day, padded with blanks to length of 9 characters.
DD	Yes	Day of month (1-31).
DDD	Yes	Day of year (1-366).
DY	Yes	Abbreviated name of day.
E	No	Abbreviated era name (Japanese Imperial, ROC Official, and Thai Buddha calendars).
EE	No	Full era name (Japanese Imperial, ROC Official, and Thai Buddha calendars).
HH	Yes	Hour of day (1-12).
HH12	No	Hour of day (1-12).
HH24	Yes	Hour of day (0-23).
IW	No	Week of year (1-52 or 1-53) based on the ISO standard.
IYY IY I	No	Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of ISO year.
IYYY	No	4-digit year based on the ISO standard.
J	Yes	Julian day; the number of days since January 1, 4712 BC. Number specified with 'J' must be integers.
MI	Yes	Minute (0-59).
MM	Yes	Month (01-12; JAN = 01)
MON	Yes	Abbreviated name of month.
MONTH	Yes	Name of month, padded with blanks to length of 9 characters.
PM P.M.	No	Meridian indicator with or without periods.
Q	No	Quarter of year (1, 2, 3, 4; JAN-MAR = 1)
RM	Yes	Roman numeral month (I-XII; JAN = I).
RR	Yes	Given a year with 2 digits, returns a year in the next century if the year is <50 and the last 2 digits of the current year are >=50; returns a year in the preceding century if the year is >=50 and the last 2 digits of the current year are <50.
RRRR	Yes	Round year. Accepts either 4-digit or 2-digit input. If 2-digit, provides the same return as RR. If you don't want this functionality, simply enter the 4-digit year.
SS	Yes	Second (0-59).
SSSSS	Yes	Seconds past midnight (0-86399).
WW	No	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	No	Week of month (1-5) where week 1 starts on the first day of the month and ends on the seventh.
Y,YYY	Yes	Year with comma in this position.
YEAR SYEAR	No	Year, spelled out; "S" prefixes BC dates with "-".
YYYY SYYYY	Yes	4-digit year; "S" prefixes BC dates with "-".
YYY YY Y	Yes	Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of year.

 

 

Table 3-16 The RR Date Element Format

		If the specified two-digit year is
		0 - 49	50 - 99
If the last two digits of the current year are:	0-49	The return date is in the current century.	The return date is in the preceding century.
	50-99	The return date is in the next century.	The return date is in the current century.

 

The following example demonstrates the behavior of the RR date format element.

Example 1

Assume these queries are issued between 1950 and 1999:

SELECT TO_CHAR(TO_DATE('27-OCT-95', 'DD-MON-RR') ,'YYYY') "Year"

     FROM DUAL;

 

Year

----

1995

 

SELECT TO_CHAR(TO_DATE('27-OCT-17', 'DD-MON-RR') ,'YYYY') "Year";

     FROM DUAL;

 

Year

----

2017

Example 2

Assume these queries are issued between 2000 and 2049:

SELECT TO_CHAR(TO_DATE('27-OCT-95', 'DD-MON-RR') ,'YYYY') "Year";

  FROM DUAL;

 

Year

----

1995

 

SELECT TO_CHAR(TO_DATE('27-OCT-17', 'DD-MON-RR') ,'YYYY') "Year";

     FROM DUAL;

 

Year

----

2017

Note that the queries return the same values regardless of whether they are issued before or after the year 2000. The RR date format element allows you to write SQL statements that will return the same values after the turn of the century.

 

 

Table 3-17 Date Format Element Suffixes

Suffix	Meaning	Example Element	Example Value
TH	Ordinal Number	DDTH	4TH
SP	Spelled Number	DDSP	FOUR
SPTH or THSP	Spelled, ordinal number	DDSPTH	FOURTH

 

 

Format Model Modifiers

You can use the FM and FX modifiers in format models for the TO_CHAR function to control blank padding and exact format checking.

FM

"Fill mode". This modifier suppresses blank padding in the return value of the TO_CHAR function:

·         In a date format element of a TO_CHAR function, this modifier suppresses blanks in subsequent character elements (such as MONTH) and suppresses leading and trailing zeroes for subsequent number elements (such as MI) in a date format model. Without FM, the result of a character element is always right padded with blanks to a fixed length, and leading zeroes are always returned for a number element. With FM, because there is no blank padding, the length of the return value may vary

·         In a number format element of a TO_CHAR function, this modifier suppresses blanks added to the left of the number, so that the result is left-justified in the output buffer. Without FM, the result is always right-justified in the buffer, resulting in blank-padding to the left of the number.

 

Example 1

The following statement uses a date format model to return a character expression:

SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'fmDDTH')||' of '||TO_CHAR

   (SYSDATE, 'Month')||', '||TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'YYYY') "Ides"

    FROM DUAL;

 

Ides

------------------

3RD of April, 1995

Note that the statement above also uses the FM modifier. If FM is omitted, the month is blank-padded to nine characters:

SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'DDTH')||' of '||

   TO_CHAR(Month, YYYY') "Ides"

   FROM DUAL;

 

Ides

-----------------------

03RD of April    , 1995