PostgreSQL – TO_DATE Function
In PostgreSQL, the TO_DATE function is used to convert a string representation of a date into a date data type. It’s particularly useful when you have date values stored as strings and you want to convert them into actual date values for further manipulation or comparison.
The syntax of the TO_DATE function is as follows:
TO_DATE(string, format)Here’s an example of using the TO_DATE function to convert a string into a date:
SELECT TO_DATE('2023-08-12', 'YYYY-MM-DD') AS converted_date;In this example, the string ‘2023-08-12’ is converted into a date using the ‘YYYY-MM-DD’ format.
You can also use the TO_DATE function to handle dates with different formats:
SELECT TO_DATE('12/Aug/2023', 'DD/Mon/YYYY') AS converted_date;In this example, the string ’12/Aug/2023′ is converted into a date using the ‘DD/Mon/YYYY’ format.
Remember that the second argument of the TO_DATE function (format) specifies the format of the input string so that PostgreSQL can correctly interpret and convert it into a date.
Keep in mind that the TO_DATE function is used for converting strings to dates. If you need to convert dates to strings with specific formats, you would typically use the TO_CHAR function.