Help Center/Data Lake Insight/Spark SQL Syntax Reference/Built-In Functions/Date Functions/to_char
Updated on 2025-03-17 GMT+08:00
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to_char

This function is used to convert a date into a string in a specified format.

Syntax

to_char(string date, string format)

Parameters

Table 1 Parameters

Parameter

Mandatory

Type

Description

date

Yes

DATE

or

STRING

Date that needs to be processed

The following formats are supported:
  • yyyy-mm-dd
  • yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss
  • yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss.ff3

format

Yes

STRING

Format of the date to be converted

Constant of the STRING type. Extended date formats are not supported.

The value is a combination of the time unit (year, month, day, hour, minute, and second) and any character.

  • yyyy indicates the year.
  • mm indicates the month.
  • dd indicates the day.
  • hh indicates the hour.
  • mi indicates the minute.
  • ss indicates the second.

Return Values

The return value is of the STRING type.

  • If the value of date is not of the DATE or STRING type, the error message "data type mismatch" is displayed.
  • If the value of date is of the DATE or STRING type but is not in one of the supported formats, NULL is returned.
  • If the value of format is NULL, NULL is returned.

Example Code

The static data 2023-08*16 is returned.

select to_char('2023-08-16 10:54:36','Example static data yyyy-mm*dd');

The value 20230816 is returned.

select to_char('2023-08-16 10:54:36', 'yyyymmdd');

The value NULL is returned.

select to_char('Example static data 2023-08-16','Example static data yyyy-mm*dd');

The value NULL is returned.

select to_char('20230816', 'yyyy');

The value NULL is returned.

select to_char('2023-08-16 10:54:36', null);
Parent topic:Date Functions