SQL Date Format Options with SQL CONVERT Function

By:   |   Updated: 2023-11-13   |   Comments (62)   |   Related: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | > Dates


Problem

There are many instances when dates and times don't show up at your doorstep in the format you'd like it to be, nor does the output of a query fit the needs of the people viewing it. One option is to format the data in the application itself. Another option is to use the built-in functions SQL Server provides to format the date string for you.

Solution

SQL Server provides a number of options you can use for formatting a date/time string in SQL queries and stored procedures either from an input file (Excel, CSV, etc.) or a date column (datetime, datetime2, smalldatetime, etc.) from a table. One of the first considerations is the actual date/time value needed if you are in the USA, need a French value or the ISO standard. The most common is the current date/time using getdate(). This provides the current date and time according to the server providing the date and time. If a universal date/time (UTC) is needed, then getutcdate() should be used. To change the format of the date, you convert the requested date to a string and specify the format number corresponding to the format needed.

How to get SQL Date Format in SQL Server

  1. Use the SELECT statement with CONVERT function and date format option for the date values needed
  2. To get YYYY-MM-DD use this T-SQL syntax SELECT CONVERT(varchar, getdate(), 23)
  3. To get MM/DD/YY use this T-SQL syntax SELECT CONVERT(varchar, getdate(), 1)
  4. Check out the chart to get a list of all format options

The following table is a list of SQL date formats and an example of the output.  The date parameter used for all of these examples is "2022-12-30 00:38:54.840".

DATE ONLY FORMATS
Format # Query Format Sample
1 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 1) mm/dd/yy 12/30/22
2 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 2) yy.mm.dd 22.12.30
3 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 3) dd/mm/yy 30/12/22
4 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 4) dd.mm.yy 30.12.22
5 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 5) dd-mm-yy 30-12-22
6 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 6) dd-Mon-yy 30 Dec 22
7 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 7) Mon dd, yy Dec 30, 22
10 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 10) mm-dd-yy 12-30-22
11 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 11) yy/mm/dd 22/12/30
12 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 12) yymmdd 221230
23 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 23) yyyy-mm-dd 2022-12-30
31 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 31) yyyy-dd-mm 2022-30-12
32 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 32) mm-dd-yyyy 12-30-2022
33 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 33) mm-yyyy-dd 12-2022-30
34 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 34) dd-mm-yyyy 30-12-2022
35 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 35) dd-yyyy-mm 30-2022-12
101 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 101) mm/dd/yyyy 12/30/2022
102 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 102) yyyy.mm.dd 2022.12.30
103 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 103) dd/mm/yyyy 30/12/2022
104 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 104) dd.mm.yyyy 30.12.2022
105 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 105) dd-mm-yyyy 30-12-2022
106 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 106) dd Mon yyyy 30 Dec 2022
107 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 107) Mon dd, yyyy Dec 30, 2022
110 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 110) mm-dd-yyyy 12-30-2022
111 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 111) yyyy/mm/dd 2022/12/30
112 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 112) yyyymmdd 20221230
 
TIME ONLY FORMATS
8 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 8) hh:mm:ss 00:38:54
14 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 14) hh:mm:ss:nnn 00:38:54:840
24 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 24) hh:mm:ss 00:38:54
108 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 108) hh:mm:ss 00:38:54
114 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 114) hh:mm:ss:nnn 00:38:54:840
 
DATE & TIME FORMATS
0 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 0) Mon dd yyyy hh:mm AM/PM Dec 30 2022 12:38AM
9 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 9) Mon dd yyyy hh:mm:ss:nnn AM/PM Dec 30 2022 12:38:54:840AM
13 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 13) dd Mon yyyy hh:mm:ss:nnn AM/PM 30 Dec 2022 00:38:54:840AM
20 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 20) yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss 2022-12-30 00:38:54
21 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 21) yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss:nnn 2022-12-30 00:38:54.840
22 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 22) mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss AM/PM 12/30/22 12:38:54 AM
25 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 25) yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss:nnn 2022-12-30 00:38:54.840
26 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 26) yyyy-dd-mm hh:mm:ss:nnn 2022-30-12 00:38:54.840
27 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 27) mm-dd-yyyy hh:mm:ss:nnn 12-30-2022 00:38:54.840
28 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 28) mm-yyyy-dd hh:mm:ss:nnn 12-2022-30 00:38:54.840
29 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 29) dd-mm-yyyy hh:mm:ss:nnn 30-12-2022 00:38:54.840
30 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 30) dd-yyyy-mm hh:mm:ss:nnn 30-2022-12 00:38:54.840
100 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 100) Mon dd yyyy hh:mm AM/PM Dec 30 2022 12:38AM
109 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 109) Mon dd yyyy hh:mm:ss:nnn AM/PM Dec 30 2022 12:38:54:840AM
113 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 113) dd Mon yyyy hh:mm:ss:nnn 30 Dec 2022 00:38:54:840
120 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 120) yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss 2022-12-30 00:38:54
121 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 121) yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss:nnn 2022-12-30 00:38:54.840
126 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 126) yyyy-mm-dd T hh:mm:ss:nnn 2022-12-30T00:38:54.840
127 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 127) yyyy-mm-dd T hh:mm:ss:nnn 2022-12-30T00:38:54.840
 
ISLAMIC CALENDAR DATES
130 select convert(nvarchar, getdate(), 130) dd mmm yyyy hh:mi:ss:nnn AM/PM date output
131 select convert(nvarchar, getdate(), 131) dd mmm yyyy hh:mi:ss:nnn AM/PM 10/12/1444 12:38:54:840AM

You can also format the date or time without dividing characters, as well as concatenate the date and time string:

Sample statement Format Output
select replace(convert(varchar, getdate(),101),'/','') mmddyyyy 12302022
select replace(convert(varchar, getdate(),101),'/','') + replace(convert(varchar, getdate(),108),':','') mmddyyyyhhmmss 12302022004426

If you want to get a list of all valid date and time formats, you could use the code below and change the @date to GETDATE() or any other date you want to use.  This will output just the valid formats.

DECLARE @counter INT = 0
DECLARE @date DATETIME = '2006-12-30 00:38:54.840'

CREATE TABLE #dateFormats (dateFormatOption int, dateOutput nvarchar(40))

WHILE (@counter <= 150 )
BEGIN
   BEGIN TRY
      INSERT INTO #dateFormats
      SELECT CONVERT(nvarchar, @counter), CONVERT(nvarchar,@date, @counter) 
      SET @counter = @counter + 1
   END TRY
   BEGIN CATCH;
      SET @counter = @counter + 1
      IF @counter >= 150
      BEGIN
         BREAK
      END
   END CATCH
END

SELECT * FROM #dateFormats

Table of Date Data Types in SQL Server

Data Type Description Range Storage Example
date A date without a time 0001-Jan-01 -
9999-Dec-31
3 bytes 2023-Dec-17
Time (factional seconds) A time on a 24-hour clock without a date. There can be between 0 and 7 decimal places to support fractional seconds. The default is 7. 00:00:00.0000000 -
23:59:59.9999999
Differs based on the scale of the fractional seconds.

3 bytes for 0-2

4 bytes for 3-4

5 bytes for 5-7
time(0) 16:23:45

time(4) 16:23:45.5468

time(7) 16:23:45.5468375
datetime A date and time together in one column. The precision of the time is 1/300th of a second. 1753-Jan-01 00:00:00.000 -
9999-Dec-21 23:59:59.997
8 bytes 2023-Dec-17 17:23:45.547
smalldatetime A date and time together in one column. The precision of the time 1 minute. There are no seconds and no fractions of a second. 1900-Jan-01 00:00 -
2079-Jun-06 23:59
4 bytes 2023-Dec-17 16:23
datetime2 (factional seconds) A date and time together in one column. There can be between 0 and 7 decimal places to support fractional seconds of the time. The default is 7. 0001-Jan-01 00:00:00.0000000 -
9999-Dec-31 23:59:59.9999999
Differs based on the scale of the fractional seconds.

6 bytes for 0-2

7 bytes for 3-4

8 bytes for 5-7
datetime2(0) 2023-Dec-17 16:23:45

datetime2(4) 2023-Dec-17 16:23:45.5468

datetime2(7) 2023-Dec-17 16:23:45.5468375
Datetimeoffset(factional seconds) This is exactly the same as a datetime2 except that it also includes a time zone offset value. This data type requires at least SQL Server 2016 0001-Jan-01 00:00:00.0000000 -
9999-Dec-31 23:59:59.9999999

With a time zone between UTC-14:00 and UTC+14:00
Differs based on the scale of the fractional seconds.

8 bytes for 0-2

9 bytes for 3-4

10 bytes for 5-7
datetimeoffset(0) 2023-Dec-17 16:23:45+08:00

datetimeoffset(4) 2023-Dec-17 16:23:45.5468+08:00

datetimeoffset(7) 2023-Dec-17 16:23:45.5468375+08:00

Here are links to date data type articles:

SQL Date Format dd/mm/yyyy with SQL CONVERT

Here is an example to get this date format.

-- The date used for this example was November 12, 2023.
DECLARE @Datetime DATETIME;
SET @Datetime = GETDATE();
 
--dd/mm/yyyy with 4 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), @Datetime, 103) CurrentDateFormattedAsText;
 
--dd/mm/yy with 2 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @Datetime,   3) CurrentDateFormattedAsText;


-- pull data from a database table
-- The date used for this example was January 25, 2013. 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted dd/mm/yyyy (4 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 CONVERT(CHAR(10), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 103) ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;
 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted dd/mm/yy (2 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 CONVERT(CHAR(8), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 3) ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;

Here is the output.

SQL Date Format dd/mm/yyyy with SQL CONVERT

SQL Date Format mm/dd/yyyy with SQL CONVERT

Here is an example to get this date format.

-- The date used for this example was November 12, 2023.

DECLARE @Datetime DATETIME;
SET @Datetime = GETDATE();
 
--mm/dd/yyyy with 4 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), @Datetime, 101) CurrentDateFormattedAsText;
 
--mm/dd/yy with 2 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @Datetime,   1) CurrentDateFormattedAsText;


-- pull data from a database table
-- The date used for this example was January 15, 2013.
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted mm/dd/yyyy (4 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 CONVERT(CHAR(10), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 101) ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;
 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted mm/dd/yy (2 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 CONVERT(CHAR(8), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 1) ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;

Here is the output.

SQL Date Format mm/dd/yyyy with SQL CONVERT

SQL Date Format yyyy mm dd with SQL CONVERT

Here is an example to get this date format.

-- The date used for this example was November 12, 2023.
DECLARE @Datetime DATETIME;
SET @Datetime = GETDATE();
 
--yyyy mm dd with 4 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), @Datetime, 102), '.', ' ') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;
 
--yy mm dd  with 2 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @Datetime,   2), '.', ' ') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;


-- pull data from a database table
-- The date used for this example was January 15, 2013.
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted yyyy mm dd (4 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(10), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 102), '.', ' ') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;
 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted yy mm dd (2 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(8), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 2), '.', ' ') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;

Here is the output.

SQL Date Format yyyy mm dd with SQL CONVERT

SQL Date Format yyyymmdd with SQL CONVERT

Here is an example to get this date format.

-- The date used for this example was November 12, 2023.
DECLARE @Datetime DATETIME;
SET @Datetime = GETDATE();
 
--yyyymmdd with 4 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), @Datetime, 112), '.', ' ') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;
 
--yymmdd  with 2 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @Datetime,  12), '.', ' ') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;


-- pull data from a database table
-- The date used for this example was January 15, 2013.
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted yyyymmdd (4 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(10), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 112), '.', ' ') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;
 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted yymmdd (2 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(8), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 12), '.', ' ') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;

Here is the output.

SQL Date Format yyyymmdd with SQL CONVERT

SQL Date format ddmmyyyy with SQL CONVERT

Here is an example to get this date format.

-- The date used for this example was November 12, 2023.
DECLARE @Datetime DATETIME;
SET @Datetime = GETDATE();
 
--ddmmyyyy with 4 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), @Datetime, 104), '.', '') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;
 
--ddmmyy  with 2 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @Datetime,   4), '.', '') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;


-- pull data from a database table
-- The date used for this example was January 15, 2013.
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted ddmmyyyy (4 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(10), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 104), '.', '') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;
 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted ddmmyy (2 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(8), ExpectedDeliveryDate,  4), '.', '') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;

Here is the output.

SQL Date format ddmmyyyy with SQL CONVERT

SQL Date Format yyyy-mm-dd with SQL CONVERT

Here is an example to get this date format.

-- The date used for this example was November 12, 2023.
DECLARE @Datetime DATETIME;
SET @Datetime = GETDATE();
 
--yyyy-mm-dd with 4 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), @Datetime, 111), '/', '-') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;
 
--yy-mm-dd  with 2 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @Datetime,   11), '/', '-') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;


-- pull data from a database table
-- The date used for this example was January 15, 2013.
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted yyyy-mm-dd (4 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(10), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 111), '/', '-') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;
 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted yy-mm-dd (2 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(8), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 11), '/', '-') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;

Here is the output.

SQL Date Format yyyy-mm-dd with SQL CONVERT

SQL Date Format mm/dd/yyyy with SQL CONVERT

Here is an example to get this date format.

-- The date used for this example was November 12, 2023.
DECLARE @Datetime DATETIME;
SET @Datetime = GETDATE();
 
--mm/dd/yyyy with 4 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), @Datetime, 110), '/', '-') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;
 
--mm/dd/yy  with 2 DIGIT YEAR
SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), @Datetime,   10), '/', '-') CurrentDateFormattedAsText;


-- pull data from a database table
-- The date used for this example was January 15, 2013. 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted mm/dd/yyyy (4 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(10), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 110), '/', '-') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;
 
--SELECT a datetime column as a string formatted mm/dd/yy (2 digit year)
SELECT TOP 3 REPLACE(CONVERT(CHAR(8), ExpectedDeliveryDate, 10), '/', '-') ExpectedDeliveryDateFormattedAsText
FROM Purchasing.PurchaseOrders
WHERE OrderDate < @Datetime;

Here is the output.

SQL Date Format mm/dd/yyyy with SQL CONVERT

Recommended Reading

Continue your learning on Microsoft SQL Server dates with these tips and tutorials which could be valuable to beginners and experienced Developers alike:

Next Steps
  • The formats listed above are not inclusive of all formats provided. Experiment with various dates and the different format numbers to see what others are available.
  • These formats can be used for all date/time functions, as well as data being served to clients, so experiment with these data format conversions to see if they can provide data more efficiently.
  • Also, check out the SQL Server FORMAT Function to Format Dates.

Last updated by Eric Blinn on 2023-11-13



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MSSQLTips author MSSQLTips MSSQLTips.com was started in 2006 to provide SQL Server content about various aspects of SQL Server and other database platforms.

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Article Last Updated: 2023-11-13

Comments For This Article




Thursday, January 4, 2024 - 12:48:48 AM - parmod Back To Top (91829)
Thank you for the article, I was trying to fix the Date format issue while troubleshooting a website and it helped a lot.
Keep up the good work.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 - 5:55:34 AM - Alison Back To Top (90964)
A really useful article, and very clear.

Friday, February 3, 2023 - 1:04:49 AM - Soniya Back To Top (90875)
SqlDateTime overflow. Must be between 1/1/1753 12:00:00 AM and 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM.'
I found this type of error, I can i solve this


Thursday, January 12, 2023 - 1:45:12 PM - Rahul Back To Top (90825)
Thank you for the article, I was trying to fix the Date format issue while troubleshooting a website and it helped a lot.
Keep up the good work.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022 - 5:41:37 AM - Ian Back To Top (90655)
Thanks for doing this article, very easy to follow explanation with examples of how to use dates in SQL.

Tuesday, September 13, 2022 - 8:28:48 AM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (90470)
Hi Osman,

You could just do UPDATE statements to convert your text values to the standard time values you mentioned. Another option is to use a CASE statement to make the change if you don't want to change the actual data.

https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/6031/sql-server-case-expression-overview/

-Greg

Monday, September 12, 2022 - 6:29:56 PM - Osman Back To Top (90467)
Hi,

Please help me with this..

I got a really messy data that I am trying to clean. There is a column there that has time. Most of the time values are entered in this format 18h00, which is fine. But there are rows that have “morning” or “afternoon” or “after dark” instead of actual time.

My question is: how do I convert these strings like “afternoon” which I know could be like “13h00” or something to a time value instead of having it as a string.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022 - 7:32:08 PM - LeLik Back To Top (90331)
Hi
you have the typo for Format #13

Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - 12:27:58 AM - negah Back To Top (90039)
hi i convert '2015-04-14 00:30:00.000' to '2015-04-14 24:30:00.000' in sql

(my parametr type as datetime)

please help me

Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 11:16:06 AM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (89582)
Hi Krishna,

try this.

declare @d int = 44542 -- Dec 14, 2021
select CONVERT(varchar(25),cast(@d as datetime),105)

-Greg

Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - 7:43:18 AM - Krishna Back To Top (89580)
Hi,

I want to convert a Text Field which is saving the Data in String into a Date field. The value stored is in the below format.

Value Stored = 66028
Actual Value (or) Desired Output = 10-11-2021 (dd-mm-yyyy)

Thanks,
Krishna

Monday, September 20, 2021 - 10:35:42 AM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (89246)
Hi Amol,

you could create another table with the mapping and then join to that table based on the day of the month to return your A, B, C, etc. values.

-Greg

Saturday, September 18, 2021 - 1:32:31 PM - Amol Back To Top (89240)
Hello,
i am beginner in sql
i have one task of conversion of date like.
if day of month is 01 then conversion would like A, like for 02 it would be B( 01= A,02=B,.......27=AA,28=AB...)

could we do like code this sql please suggest solution if it could be done.

Thanks

Monday, March 1, 2021 - 10:59:59 AM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (88317)
Thanks Ron. This has been updated.

Greg

Sunday, February 28, 2021 - 11:54:18 AM - Ron Moses Back To Top (88314)
Example #3 st the top of the article is wrong. You indicate that YYYY will be returned by format value 1. But this format only returns YY, as you indicate in the chart immediately below. 101 returns the year with century.

Friday, April 3, 2020 - 9:43:20 AM - Jeff Moden Back To Top (85264)

Be advised that the FORMAT function is horrible for performance.  It takes a very typical 43 times longer than even some of the more complex things you can do with CONVERT.  I STRONGLY RECOMMEND AVOIDING THE USE OF THE FORMAT FUNCTION FOR THAT REASON.  It's the "death of a thousand small cuts".


Tuesday, March 17, 2020 - 3:42:44 PM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (85131)

Hi George, you can do this with the format function as well.  Here is a tip about that: https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2655/new-sql-server-function-to-format-dates/

Also, I have heard that the format function is a lot slower than the convert function.

-Greg


Tuesday, March 17, 2020 - 3:13:22 PM - George Back To Top (85130)

Wouldn't most of this be moot with the FORMAT function?  That will automatically turn it into an NVARCHAR(4000) field, and you have a lot of flexibility to define it how you want.

select
    format(getdate(), 'yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss') AS [today],
    format(getdate(), 'yyyy-MM-dd')          AS [today2]


Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - 3:40:50 AM - Damba Back To Top (83774)

THANK YOU!


Monday, December 16, 2019 - 9:54:34 AM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (83436)

Thanks Gregg for the feedback.  We will see if we can update all of the examples.

The reader could also run the T-SQL script and enter other dates.  This will produce all valid results, so they can see how the date would be formatted.

Thanks
Greg


Saturday, December 14, 2019 - 11:27:03 AM - Gregg Tracton Back To Top (83426)

revise your example date, please.  use a example date (ex, 1/2/1994) that has a month AND day less than 10 so readers can see if the leading zero is prefixed or not.


Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 5:42:29 AM - MANISH Back To Top (81898)

THANK YOU


Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - 9:45:22 AM - jack Back To Top (81778)

Thank for the providing that giant table formats!


Monday, June 3, 2019 - 11:55:28 AM - Anne Cao Back To Top (81310)

Thank you for the good tip.

I also see sometimes the column could store seconds only. The seconds is the seconds since 0 hours of the day.

Any conversion formula?

Thanks


Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 11:00:26 AM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (80105)

Thanks Stewart for the input.

As you mentioned this tip uses VARCHAR and that could be changed to NVARCHAR which will return the same results for most of the items and take care of format 130.

-Greg


Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 10:49:18 AM - Stewart Back To Top (80104)

Formats 130 and 131 are the Islamic calendar date.  But 130 contains Arabic characters, and therefore you would need to convert to nvarchar, not varchar.  Still, the order of the parts comes out in a bit of a muddle, unless I tell my software to render it right-to-left.


Thursday, April 18, 2019 - 4:57:37 PM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (79597)

Hi Ben,

you can do this: 

SELECT CONVERT(datetime,'1/1/2018 12:00:00 AM')

-Greg

 


Thursday, April 18, 2019 - 3:19:51 PM - Ben LaRoche Back To Top (79596)

Does anyone know how to convert this format "1/1/2018 12:00:00 AM" (currently in text) to a date time type?

Thanks,

Ben


Friday, April 12, 2019 - 6:03:09 AM - Sindhuja K S Back To Top (79542)

Its very nice article .

Its saved my time.

Thank you.


Wednesday, March 20, 2019 - 12:36:07 PM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (79351)

Hi Zulfiqar, it looks like the output is 2019-03-20.

You could also just do this and get the same result.  The third parameter doesn't seem to make a difference.

SELECT CONVERT(DATE, GETDATE())

-Greg


Wednesday, March 20, 2019 - 12:13:12 PM - Zulfiqar Dholkawala Back To Top (79350)

Hi What would this output?

CONVERT(DATE, GETDATE(), 123) 

Thank you.


Wednesday, March 20, 2019 - 10:25:54 AM - marcus Back To Top (79348)

i love you guys


Monday, March 11, 2019 - 2:04:56 PM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (79258)

Hi David,

Take a look at this tip:

https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2655/format-sql-server-dates-with-format-function/

-Greg


Monday, March 11, 2019 - 7:31:30 AM - David Back To Top (79245)

Hello,

Thank you for this great post,but i can't find this date format 

Jeu. 07 Mar 2019

 any suggestion please ?

Thank you


Thursday, March 22, 2018 - 2:14:35 PM - Aubrey Back To Top (75502)

 

 A simpler way to format the date is:  

 

SELECT CAST(GETDATE() AS DATE) AS ‘ColumnName’

This will produce a date in this format: 2018-03-22

You can replace the “GETDATE()” with the name of date column you want to modify.

 

As for the Time, use:

SELECT FORMAT(GETDATE(), ‘hh:mm’) AS ‘ColumnName’

This will produce the time in this format: 01:07

Or, if you want the time returned in Military format, change the ‘hh’ to upper case ‘HH’

SELECT FORMAT(GETDATE(), ‘HH:mm’) AS ‘Time’

This will produce the time in this format: 13:09

Hope this helps someone.

 


Thursday, March 22, 2018 - 6:23:48 AM - Rihan Back To Top (75500)

This was helpful

 


Saturday, October 21, 2017 - 7:27:09 AM - Zumer Jan Back To Top (68613)

 

 

Excellent Post


Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - 11:26:34 AM - Julie Back To Top (55621)

 I would add that cast(date_expression as date) is sometimes a useful solution. It keeps the date characteristics for sorting, comparing, etc. but drops the time portion. This is great for items going to excel.

 


Thursday, April 6, 2017 - 2:11:44 PM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (54369)

Hi Koduru,

Take a look at this tip: https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2507/determine-sql-server-date-and-time-with-datepart-and-datename-functions/

 


Thursday, April 6, 2017 - 1:01:01 PM - koduru jaladakshi Back To Top (54364)

 

 hi how to get result in sql server like

year:2017

date:06

month:04

please help me

thank u.

 


Thursday, December 10, 2015 - 2:16:54 AM - Adarsh v nair Back To Top (40228)

01/01/0100 10:00:00 how  to convert time 10:00:0


Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 5:22:09 AM - senya Back To Top (38820)

hello,i just want to create a date from the table in sql server 2008.But there one error was araised whatever change the datatype(varchar,int,char).such as that error is,

"Arithmetic overflow error converting expression to data type int.
The statement has been terminated".

how ll clear this error.


Monday, August 31, 2015 - 10:25:38 AM - Umit Back To Top (38572)

Hi there,

I am retrieving data with SQL from a Oracle database where I encounter different date formats in the same data group.

I run the SQL query in VBA and the query results are pasted in an excel tab. So in the same data column I have data with multiple date formats in excel.

Only one date format recognized as date, according to pc's regional settings. I need to convert all data into same format before I retrieve them to excel.

right now I use this: TO_CHAR(v.BASLANGICTARIHI, 'DD/MM/YYYY') but it does not help.

Can someone help me here?

Thanks.

 


Monday, January 5, 2015 - 3:20:07 PM - Sharim Back To Top (35831)

--Output as char with space like 3 1 1 0 2 0 1 4.
declare @dt varchar(120)
declare @hold1 varchar(2)
declare @hold2 varchar(15)
declare @i int

set @dt = CONVERT(varchar(26),getdate(),103)
set @dt = REPLACE(@dt,'/','')
set @i=1
set @hold2=''

WHILE (@i < len(@dt)+1)
BEGIN
  set @hold1 = substring(@dt,@i, 1)+' '
  set @hold2 += @hold1
  set @i += 1
END
select @hold2


Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - 1:40:28 AM - San Back To Top (35184)

Hi Greg Robidoux,


Thanks a lot.


Your suggestion were working well... Really you have given me a great thing.


Once again thanks....


Saturday, November 1, 2014 - 6:54:03 AM - Greg Robidoux Back To Top (35146)

Hi San,

use this select replace(convert(varchar, getdate(),103),'/','')  to get the output you need and then use one of these functions to add the space between each number

http://dbamentalist.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/t-sql-function-add-a-space-between-all-characters/comment-page-1/

http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/426728/T-SQL-Function-Add-a-space-between-all-characters


Saturday, November 1, 2014 - 6:42:45 AM - San Back To Top (35145)

Input date (31/10/2014)

Output as char with space like 3 1 1 0 2 0 1 4.

 

Can anyone help me?

 

This is for cheque date printing...

 

 


Monday, February 18, 2013 - 11:32:21 PM - giam Back To Top (22251)
thank you very much.

Friday, November 30, 2012 - 9:42:22 AM - Jeremy Kadlec Back To Top (20670)

satheeshkumar,

Have you checked out Tim Ford's tip - http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/1712/sql-server-function-to-convert-integer-date-to-datetime-format/?

I believe he has a function to take care of the date logic, but I think you will have to modify it to include the time logic you need.

HTH.

Thank you,
Jeremy Kadlec


Friday, November 30, 2012 - 2:40:01 AM - satheeshkumar Back To Top (20656)

hI

BELOW MY REQUORMENT

Input - 20121130121020 = output 2012/11/30 12:10:20

 

Can any one help me out this

 


Monday, November 19, 2012 - 9:37:04 AM - Jeremy Kadlec Back To Top (20409)

Dev,

Can you post the date format you are seeing in SSMS and the final format you would like?

Thank you,
Jeremy Kadlec


Monday, November 19, 2012 - 5:59:40 AM - Dev Back To Top (20405)

How to convert datetime format stored data to 24hr time format in SSMS 2008?
Any idea on this?

 


Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 1:06:03 AM - e Back To Top (19559)


Monday, September 17, 2012 - 6:10:13 PM - Mike Back To Top (19540)

Don't forget 23:   2006-12-30


Friday, August 17, 2012 - 12:57:12 AM - tintu Back To Top (19089)

i want extracting date from sql server,using php how to get this?? i used

$d=convert(varchar,getdate(),101);

echo $d;

 this is not working


Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - 5:47:14 AM - Gayatri Tiwari Back To Top (18766)

its very very helpful...

still i need few more details... for few more formulaes....


Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 9:23:58 AM - Jeremy Kadlec Back To Top (17482)

Tessa,

Would this work for you?

convert(varchar,getdate(),105) + ' ' + convert(varchar,getdate(),108)

Is there any reason you would not use this format:

9 or 109 select convert(varchar, getdate(), 9) Dec 30 2006 12:38:54:840AM

 

Have you also seen these tips:

http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2588/new-date-and-time-functions-in-sql-server-2012/

http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/1616/sql-server-2008-date-and-time-data-types/

HTH.

Thank you,
Jeremy Kadlec


Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 7:42:46 AM - Tessa Back To Top (17479)

I would like to see the complete date and time a DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM:SS

I use: convert(varchar,getdate(),105) + convert(varchar,getdate(),108)

I get: 16-05-201213:42:18

 

How would I get the extra space between the Date and Time to get 16-05-2012 13:42:18


Thursday, May 12, 2011 - 11:15:21 AM - Vijay Prakash Vyas Back To Top (13814)

It's very helpful info thanks for help!!!!!


Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 6:46:58 AM - tosscrosby Back To Top (2533)

Actually, I was simply complimenting the "tip" as it provided exactly what I needed for ANY date:

 select replace(convert(varchar, getdate(),101),'/','') + replace(convert(varchar, getdate(),108),':','')

This converts any MSSQL datetime to MMDDYYYYHHMMSS - exactly what the Oracle folks wanted!

 

Thanks anyway :-)


Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 6:27:17 AM - Senthilkumar.S Back To Top (2529)

Select the particular year,month, day,pls do following query

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

select * from barrowBooks where year(barrow_date)='2008' and month(barrow_date)='11' and day(barrow_date)='12'  order by barrow_date desc

 

convert the date and time  using this query

----------------------------------------------------------------

select convert(char(11),getdate(),108) -->Result of time  11:18:18

select convert(char(10),getdate(),101) -->Result of Date  11/06/2008


Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:50:38 PM - tosscrosby Back To Top (2520)

I just had a request from our Oracle team to see if I could supply them with dates in a MMDDYYYYHHMMSS format. Came here and found what I need in all of about 30 seconds. Thanks.















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