How to convert string to date in oracle database?

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 In Oracle, you can convert a string to a date using the TO_DATE function. The TO_DATE function takes two arguments: the string to be converted and the format mask that describes the format of the input string.

Here is the syntax of the TO_DATE function:

scss
TO_DATE(string, format_mask)

The string argument is the string that you want to convert to a date, and the format_mask argument specifies the format of the string. Here is an example of how to use the TO_DATE function to convert a string to a date:

sql
SELECT TO_DATE('2022-03-18', 'YYYY-MM-DD') AS converted_date
FROM dual;

In this example, the TO_DATE function converts the string '2022-03-18' to a date using the format mask 'YYYY-MM-DD'. The FROM dual clause is used to execute the SELECT statement, as Oracle requires a table reference even if you are not selecting data from a table.

You can also include time information in the input string and format mask. Here is an example:

sql
SELECT TO_DATE('2022-03-18 14:30:00', 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS') AS converted_date
FROM dual;

In this example, the TO_DATE function converts the string '2022-03-18 14:30:00' to a date with time using the format mask 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS'.

Note that the format mask must match the format of the input string, or the TO_DATE function will return an error.