Oracle TO_CHAR() Syntax Guide

1 year ago
William Carter
1 minute

TO_CHAR() is a function specific to Oracle databases. It is used to convert date, number, or string data types into a specified format of string.

The syntax of the TO_CHAR() function in Oracle is as follows:

TO_CHAR(value, format)
  1. The value is the value to be converted, which can be a date, number, or string.
  2. Format is a template used to specify the format in which values are converted to strings.

The TO_CHAR() function is commonly used for the following purposes:

  1. Convert the date into a specific format string, such as converting the date into “YYYY-MM-DD” format.
  2. Convert numbers into strings with specified precision and format, such as adding currency symbols or thousand separators.
  3. Display the string in the specified format.

For example, here is an example of converting a date to a string using the TO_CHAR() function:

SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'YYYY-MM-DD') AS formatted_date
FROM dual;

The above query will convert the current date into a string in the format of “YYYY-MM-DD” and return the result.

bannerAds