Oracle / PLSQL: TO_TIMESTAMP Function

This Oracle tutorial explains how to use the Oracle/PLSQL TO_TIMESTAMP function with syntax and examples.

Description

The Oracle/PLSQL TO_TIMESTAMP function converts a string to a timestamp.

The syntax for the TO_TIMESTAMP function in Oracle/PLSQL is:

TO_TIMESTAMP( string1 [, format_mask] ['nlsparam'] )

string1

The string that will be converted to a timestamp.

format_mask

Optional. This is the format that will be used to convert string1 to a timestamp. It can be one or a combination of the following values

Parameter	Explanation
YYYY	4-digit year
MM	Month (01-12; JAN = 01).
MON	Abbreviated name of month.
MONTH	Name of month, padded with blanks to length of 9 characters.
DD	Day of month (1-31).
HH	Hour of day (1-12).
HH12	Hour of day (1-12).
HH24	Hour of day (0-23).
MI	Minute (0-59).
SS	Second (0-59).

The TO_TIMESTAMP function returns a timestamp value.

The TO_TIMESTAMP function can be used in the following versions of Oracle/PLSQL:

Let's look at some Oracle TO_TIMESTAMP function examples and explore how to use the TO_TIMESTAMP function in Oracle/PLSQL.

For example:

TO_TIMESTAMP('2003/12/13 10:13:18', 'YYYY/MM/DD HH:MI:SS')

would return '13-DEC-03 10.13.18.000000000 AM' as a timestamp value.

TO_TIMESTAMP('2003/DEC/13 10:13:18', 'YYYY/MON/DD HH:MI:SS')

would also return '13-DEC-03 10.13.18.000000000 AM' as a timestamp value.