In Oracle/PLSQL, the
to_char function converts a number or date to a string.
The syntax for the
to_char function is:
to_char( value, [ format_mask ], [ nls_language ] )
value can either be a number or date that will be converted to a string.
format_mask is optional. This is the format that will be used to convert
value to a string.
nls_language is optional. This is the nls language used to convert
value to a string.
Applies To:
- Oracle 8i, Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g
Examples - Numbers
The following are number examples for the
to_char function.
| to_char(1210.73, '9999.9') | would return '1210.7' |
| to_char(1210.73, '9,999.99') | would return '1,210.73' |
| to_char(1210.73, '$9,999.00') | would return '$1,210.73' |
| to_char(21, '000099') | would return '000021' |
Examples - Dates
The following is a list of valid parameters when the
to_char function is used to convert a date to a string. These parameters can be used in many combinations.
| Parameter | Explanation |
| YEAR | Year, spelled out |
| YYYY | 4-digit year |
YYY
YY
Y | Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of year. |
IYY
IY
I | Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of ISO year. |
| IYYY | 4-digit year based on the ISO standard |
| Q | Quarter of year (1, 2, 3, 4; JAN-MAR = 1). |
| MM | Month (01-12; JAN = 01). |
| MON | Abbreviated name of month. |
| MONTH | Name of month, padded with blanks to length of 9 characters. |
| RM | Roman numeral month (I-XII; JAN = I). |
| WW | Week of year (1-53) where week 1 starts on the first day of the year and continues to the seventh day of the year. |
| W | Week of month (1-5) where week 1 starts on the first day of the month and ends on the seventh. |
| IW | Week of year (1-52 or 1-53) based on the ISO standard. |
| D | Day of week (1-7). |
| DAY | Name of day. |
| DD | Day of month (1-31). |
| DDD | Day of year (1-366). |
| DY | Abbreviated name of day. |
| J | Julian day; the number of days since January 1, 4712 BC. |
| 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). |
| SSSSS | Seconds past midnight (0-86399). |
| FF | Fractional seconds. |
The following are date examples for the
to_char function.
| to_char(sysdate, 'yyyy/mm/dd'); | would return '2003/07/09' |
| to_char(sysdate, 'Month DD, YYYY'); | would return 'July 09, 2003' |
| to_char(sysdate, 'FMMonth DD, YYYY'); | would return 'July 9, 2003' |
| to_char(sysdate, 'MON DDth, YYYY'); | would return 'JUL 09TH, 2003' |
| to_char(sysdate, 'FMMON DDth, YYYY'); | would return 'JUL 9TH, 2003' |
| to_char(sysdate, 'FMMon ddth, YYYY'); | would return 'Jul 9th, 2003' |
You will notice that in some examples, the
format_mask parameter begins with "FM". This means that zeros and blanks are suppressed. This can be seen in the examples below.
| to_char(sysdate, 'FMMonth DD, YYYY'); | would return 'July 9, 2003' |
| to_char(sysdate, 'FMMON DDth, YYYY'); | would return 'JUL 9TH, 2003' |
| to_char(sysdate, 'FMMon ddth, YYYY'); | would return 'Jul 9th, 2003' |
The zeros have been suppressed so that the day component shows as "9" as opposed to "09".