You can use datetime format models in the following functions:

• In the TO_* datetime functions to translate a character value that is in a format other than the default format into a datetime value. (The TO_* datetime functions are TO_CHAR, TO_DATE, TO_TIMESTAMP, TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ, TO_YMINTERVAL, and TO_DSINTERVAL.)

• In the TO_CHAR function to translate a datetime value that is in a format other than the default format into a string (for example, to print the date from an application)

The total length of a datetime format model cannot exceed 22 characters.

The default datetime formats are specified either explicitly with the initialization parameter NLS_DATE_FORMAT or implicitly with the initialization parameterNLS_TERRITORY. You can change the default datetime formats for your session with the ALTER SESSION statement.

See Also:

ALTER SESSION and  Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for information on the NLS parameters

Datetime Format Elements

A datetime format model is composed of one or more datetime format elements as listed in Table 2-19, "Attributes of the XMLFormat Object".

• For input format models, format items cannot appear twice, and format items that represent similar information cannot be combined. For example, you cannot use 'SYYYY' and 'BC' in the same format string.

• Some of the datetime format elements cannot be used in the TO_* datetime functions, as noted in Table.

• The following datetime format elements can be used in timestamp and interval format models, but not in the original DATE format model: FF, TZD, TZH,TZM, and TZR.

• Many datetime format elements are blank padded to a specific length. Please refer to the format model modifier FM for more information.

Uppercase Letters in Date Format Elements

Capitalization in a spelled-out word, abbreviation, or Roman numeral follows capitalization in the corresponding format element. For example, the date format model 'DAY' produces capitalized words like 'MONDAY'; 'Day' produces 'Monday'; and 'day' produces 'monday'.

Punctuation and Character Literals in Datetime Format Models

You can include these characters in a date format model:

• Punctuation such as hyphens, slashes, commas, periods, and colons

• Character literals, enclosed in double quotation marks

These characters appear in the return value in the same location as they appear in the format model.

Datetime Format Elements

Element	Specify in TO_* datetime functions?	Description
-/,.;:"text"	Yes	Punctuation and quoted text is reproduced in the result.
ADA.D.	Yes	AD indicator with or without periods.
AMA.M.	Yes	Meridian indicator with or without periods.
BCB.C.	Yes	BC indicator with or without periods.
CCSCC	No	Century. If the last 2 digits of a 4-digit year are between 01 and 99 (inclusive), then the century is one greater than the first 2 digits of that year. If the last 2 digits of a 4-digit year are 00, then the century is the same as the first 2 digits of that year. For example, 2002 returns 21; 2000 returns 20.
D	Yes	Day of week (1-7).
DAY	Yes	Name of day, padded with blanks to display width of the widest name of day in the date language used for this element.
DD	Yes	Day of month (1-31).
DDD	Yes	Day of year (1-366).
DL	Yes	Returns a value in the long date format, which is an extension of Oracle Database's DATE format (the current value of the NLS_DATE_FORMAT parameter). Makes the appearance of the date components (day name, month number, and so forth) depend on the NLS_TERRITORY and NLS_LANGUAGE parameters. For example, in theAMERICAN_AMERICA locale, this is equivalent to specifying the format 'fmDay, Month dd, yyyy'. In theGERMAN_GERMANY locale, it is equivalent to specifying the format 'fmDay, dd. Month yyyy'. Restriction: You can specify this format only with the TS element, separated by white space.
DS	Yes	Returns a value in the short date format. Makes the appearance of the date components (day name, month number, and so forth) depend on the NLS_TERRITORY and NLS_LANGUAGE parameters. For example, in theAMERICAN_AMERICA locale, this is equivalent to specifying the format 'MM/DD/RRRR'. In theENGLISH_UNITED_KINGDOM locale, it is equivalent to specifying the format 'DD/MM/RRRR'. Restriction: You can specify this format only with the TS element, separated by white space.
DY	Yes	Abbreviated name of day.
E	No	Abbreviated era name (Japanese Imperial, ROC Official, and Thai Buddha calendars).
EE	No	Full era name (Japanese Imperial, ROC Official, and Thai Buddha calendars).
FF [1..9]	Yes	Fractional seconds; no radix character is printed (use the X format element to add the radix character). Use the numbers 1 to 9 after FF to specify the number of digits in the fractional second portion of the datetime value returned. If you do not specify a digit, then Oracle Database uses the precision specified for the datetime datatype or the datatype's default precision. Examples: 'HH:MI:SS.FF' SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSTIMESTAMP, 'SS.FF3') from dual;
FM	Yes	Returns a value with no leading or trailing blanks. See Also: Additional discussion on this format model modifier in the Oracle Database SQL Reference
FX	Yes	Requires exact matching between the character data and the format model. See Also: Additional discussion on this format model modifier in the Oracle Database SQL Reference
HH	Yes	Hour of day (1-12).
HH12	No	Hour of day (1-12).
HH24	Yes	Hour of day (0-23).
IW	No	Week of year (1-52 or 1-53) based on the ISO standard.
IYYIYI	No	Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of ISO year.
IYYY	No	4-digit year based on the ISO standard.
J	Yes	Julian day; the number of days since January 1, 4712 BC. Number specified with J must be integers.
MI	Yes	Minute (0-59).
MM	Yes	Month (01-12; January = 01).
MON	Yes	Abbreviated name of month.
MONTH	Yes	Name of month, padded with blanks to display width of the widest name of month in the date language used for this element.
PMP.M.	No	Meridian indicator with or without periods.
Q	No	Quarter of year (1, 2, 3, 4; January - March = 1).
RM	Yes	Roman numeral month (I-XII; January = I).
RR	Yes	Lets you store 20th century dates in the 21st century using only two digits. See Also: Additional discussion on RR datetime format element in the Oracle Database SQL Reference
RRRR	Yes	Round year. Accepts either 4-digit or 2-digit input. If 2-digit, provides the same return as RR. If you do not want this functionality, then enter the 4-digit year.
SS	Yes	Second (0-59).
SSSSS	Yes	Seconds past midnight (0-86399).
TS	Yes	Returns a value in the short time format. Makes the appearance of the time components (hour, minutes, and so forth) depend on the NLS_TERRITORY and NLS_LANGUAGE initialization parameters. Restriction: You can specify this format only with the DL or DS element, separated by white space.
TZD	Yes	Daylight savings information. The TZD value is an abbreviated time zone string with daylight savings information. It must correspond with the region specified in TZR. Example: PST (for US/Pacific standard time); PDT (for US/Pacific daylight time).
TZH	Yes	Time zone hour. (See TZM format element.) Example: 'HH:MI:SS.FFTZH:TZM'.
TZM	Yes	Time zone minute. (See TZH format element.) Example: 'HH:MI:SS.FFTZH:TZM'.
TZR	Yes	Time zone region information. The value must be one of the time zone regions supported in the database. Example: US/Pacific
WW	No	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	No	Week of month (1-5) where week 1 starts on the first day of the month and ends on the seventh.
X	Yes	Local radix character. Example: 'HH:MI:SSXFF'.
Y,YYY	Yes	Year with comma in this position.
YEARSYEAR	No	Year, spelled out; S prefixes BC dates with a minus sign (-).
YYYYSYYYY	Yes	4-digit year; S prefixes BC dates with a minus sign.
YYYYYY	Yes	Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of year.

Oracle returns an error if an alphanumeric character is found in the date string where a punctuation character is found in the format string. For example, the following format string returns an error:

TO_CHAR (TO_DATE('0297','MM/YY'), 'MM/YY')

Datetime Format Elements and Globalization Support

The functionality of some datetime format elements depends on the country and language in which you are using Oracle Database. For example, these datetime format elements return spelled values:

• MONTH

• MON

• DAY

• DY

• BC or AD or B.C. or A.D.

• AM or PM or A.M or P.M.

The language in which these values are returned is specified either explicitly with the initialization parameter NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE or implicitly with the initialization parameter NLS_LANGUAGE. The values returned by the YEAR and SYEAR datetime format elements are always in English.

The datetime format element D returns the number of the day of the week (1-7). The day of the week that is numbered 1 is specified implicitly by the initialization parameter NLS_TERRITORY.