Dates and Date Functions

Oracle has a number of functions that are used with date columns. Dates are a specially formatted table column. Within the database table, dates are stored as a numeric value. However, the date is displayed in a character format. This allows the developer to calculate dates and still present the date in a readable fashion. Dates can be used in addition and subtraction operations. A value can be added to a date, and another date will be presented. Two dates can be subtracted with a numeric value as the result. Date values have the following components:

  • Day of the month

  • Month

  • Year (including the century)

  • Hour of the day

  • Minutes of the hour

  • Seconds of the minute

The hour, minute, and second values are stored as the decimal portion ...

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