TO_TIMESTAMP converts char of CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, or NVARCHAR2 datatype to a value of TIMESTAMP datatype.
The optional format_mask specifies the format of char. If you omit fmt, then char must be in the default format of the TIMESTAMP datatype, which is determined by the NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT initialization parameter. The optional 'nlsparam' argument has the same purpose in this function as in the TO_CHAR function for date conversion.
This function does not support CLOB data directly. However, CLOBs can be passed in as arguments through implicit data conversion.
The syntax for the to_timestamp function is:
to_timestamp( string1, [ format_mask ] [ 'nlsparam' ] )
string1 is the string that will be converted to a timestamp.
format_mask is optional. This is the format that will be used to convert string1 to a timestamp.
The following is a list of options for the format_mask parameter. These parameters can be used in many combinations.
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). |
Applies To:
· Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g
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.
