Oracle Timestamps & Time Zones Guide

In Oracle, timestamps are a data type that stores date and time information in a specific format. Time zone information in Oracle is managed through database session parameters.

When storing timestamp data, Oracle converts the timestamp to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and stores it in the database. When retrieving timestamp data, Oracle converts UTC time to the time corresponding to the current session’s time zone and returns it to the user. This means that the same timestamp may display different times in different sessions due to different time zones.

Oracle provides several functions for managing time zone information. For example, the FROM_TZ function is used to convert a timestamp to a specific time zone, the AT TIME ZONE function is used to convert a timestamp to a specified time zone, and the SESSIONTIMEZONE function is used to retrieve the time zone setting for the current session.

Generally speaking, time stamp and time zone handling in Oracle is based on session parameters, achieved through functions and settings for time zone conversion and management.