Oracle SQL: the Essential Reference

TO_CHAR (Converting Dates to Character Strings)

TO_CHAR(d [,fmt [,'nlsparams']])

Converts a date/time value into a character-based representation of that value.

Parameters

d

Specifies a date/time value (of type DATE).

fmt

Specifies a date format string made up of the elements shown in Table 5-4.

nlsparams

Specifies a string in the form NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE=langname, where langname represents a valid NLS language name. The NLS language name affects the spelling used for day and month names.

Examples

SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE),TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'dd-Mon-yyyy hh:mi:ss PM')
  2  FROM dual;

TO_CHAR(SYSDATE)  TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DD-MON
----------------- -----------------------
21-May-2000 17:40 21-May-2000 05:40:43 PM

SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'dd-Mon-yyyy','NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE=FRENCH')
  2  FROM dual;

TO_CHAR(SYS
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21-Mai-2000