{"id":1548,"date":"2018-07-21T05:17:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-21T12:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sqltutorial.org\/?page_id=1548"},"modified":"2020-04-04T06:56:16","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T13:56:16","slug":"sql-convert-date-to-string-functions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sqltutorial.org\/sql-date-functions\/sql-convert-date-to-string-functions\/","title":{"rendered":"SQL Convert Date to String Functions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong>: in this tutorial, you will learn various functions to convert a date to a string in SQL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='convert-date-to-string-using-cast-function'>Convert date to string using CAST() function <a href=\"#convert-date-to-string-using-cast-function\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"convert-date-to-string-using-cast-function\" title=\"Anchor for Convert date to string using &lt;code&gt;CAST()&lt;\/code&gt; function\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To convert a date to a string, you use the <code>CAST()<\/code> function as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-1\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\">CAST(date AS string)\n<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-1\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>In this syntax:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The <code>date<\/code> can be a literal or an expression that evaluates to a <code>DATE<\/code> value.<\/li><li>The string can be any character string data type such as <code>VARCHAR<\/code> or <code>TEXT<\/code>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The <code>CAST()<\/code> function returns a string that represents the date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following statement returns the current date and time as a date and as a string:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-2\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">SELECT<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">CURRENT_TIMESTAMP<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-string\">'date'<\/span>,\n   <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">CAST<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">CURRENT_TIMESTAMP<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">AS<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">VARCHAR<\/span>) <span class=\"hljs-string\">'date as a string'<\/span>;\n<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-2\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>The following shows the output:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though <code>CAST()<\/code> is a standard-SQL function, not so many database systems support it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='convert-date-to-string-using-to_char-function'>Convert date to string using TO_CHAR() function <a href=\"#convert-date-to-string-using-to_char-function\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"convert-date-to-string-using-to_char-function\" title=\"Anchor for Convert date to string using &lt;code&gt;TO_CHAR()&lt;\/code&gt; function\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The DB2, Oracle, MySQL and PostgreSQL provide a function named <code><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oracletutorial.com\/oracle-date-functions\/oracle-to_char\/\">TO_CHAR()<\/a><\/code> that has a similar feature to the <code>CAST<\/code> function. You can use the <code>TO_CHAR()<\/code> function to format a date as a string.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following illustrates the syntax of the <code>TO_CHAR()<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-3\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\">TO_CHAR(value, format);\n<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-3\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>The following example uses the <code>TO_CHAR()<\/code> function to format the current date using the <code>YYYY-MM-DD<\/code> format in Oracle:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-4\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">SELECT<\/span> \n    TO_CHAR(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">SYSDATE<\/span>, <span class=\"hljs-string\">'YYYY-MM-DD'<\/span>) \n<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">FROM<\/span> \n    dual;\n<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-4\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>Here is the output:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-5\" data-shcb-language-name=\"SQL (Structured Query Language)\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"sql\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-sql\">2018-07-21\n<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-5\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">SQL (Structured Query Language)<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">sql<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the <code>CAST()<\/code> and <code>TO_CHAR()<\/code> functions to convert a date to a string in SQL.<\/p>\n<div class=\"helpful-block-content\" data-title=\"\">\n\t<header>\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-question\">Was this tutorial helpful ?<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-thumbs\">\n\t\t\t<button\n\t\t\t\tdata-post=\"1548\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-url=\"https:\/\/www.sqltutorial.org\/sql-date-functions\/sql-convert-date-to-string-functions\/\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-title=\"SQL Convert Date to String Functions\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-response=\"1\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"wth-btn-rounded 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