How is the function “totimestamp” used in Oracle?

2 years ago
Olivia Parker
2 minutes

In Oracle database, the TOTIMESTAMP function is used to convert a string into a TIMESTAMP data type.

Its syntax is as follows:

Converts a string to a timestamp with the specified format and language parameters.

Explanation of parameters:

  1. string: the string to be converted to a TIMESTAMP.
  2. Format: Optional parameter specifying the format of the input string. If this parameter is not provided, Oracle will parse the input string based on the current setting of the NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT parameter.
  3. nlsparam: Optional parameter specifying the parameters of the NLS language environment. If not provided, Oracle will use the settings of the NLS language environment for the current session.

Example usage:

  1. Retrieve the timestamp in the default format from ‘2022-01-01 12:00:00’ and display it as ‘2022-01-01 12:00:00’.
  2. Specified format:
    SELECT TO_TIMESTAMP(‘2022/01/01 12:00:00’, ‘YYYY/MM/DD HH24:MI:SS’) FROM DUAL;
    – Output: 2022-01-01 12:00:00
  3. Using NLS parameters:
    SELECT TOTIMESTAMP(’01-Jan-2022 12:00:00′, ‘DD-Mon-YYYY HH:MI:SS’, ‘NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE=ENGLISH’) FROM DUAL;
    – Output: 2022-01-01 12:00:00

Please pay attention to the following instructions:

  1. The input string must adhere to the specified format, otherwise an error will be thrown.
  2. The TOTIMESTAMP function can handle dates ranging from January 1, 4712 AD to December 31, 9999 AD.
  3. The result returned by the TOTIMESTAMP function is a data type of TIMESTAMP.
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