TO_DATE

The TO_DATE function converts a string value to a DATE data type.

Syntax

TO_DATE (expression, date_time_pattern) 

Remarks

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The expression argument must be a CHAR or VARCHAR. For other input types, use TO_CHAR to cast a CHAR or VARCHAR before using the TO_DATE function.

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The pattern argument specifies an output pattern using a DATE, TIME, or NUMERIC format.

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You can control the data type returned by TO_DATE with a configuration parameter named Return data type of TO_DATE Function, which is under Server > SQL Engine > Overrides in the Administration > Configuration menu. If you set it to TRUE (the default), the function returns a DATE when format string is specified; if you set it to FALSE, the function returns a TIMESTAMP.

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For a change to this configuration parameter to take effect, you need to rebind or explicitly resave the view.

Example

SELECT TO_DATE(‘30 jun 2015’, ‘DD Mon YYYY’);

This returns

2015-06-30