CONVERT() function in SQL

Definition and Usage

The CONVERT() function is a general function that converts an expression of one data type to another.

The CONVERT() function can be used to display date/time data in different formats.

Syntax

CONVERT(data_type(length),expression,style)

 

Value	Description
data_type(length)	Specifies the target data type (with an optional length)
expression	Specifies the value to be converted
style	Specifies the output format for the date/time

The table below represent the style values for datetime or smalldatetime conversion to character data:

Value (century yy)	Value (century yyyy)	Input/Output	Standard
-	0 or 100	mon dd yyyy hh:miAM (or PM)	Default
1	101	mm/dd/yy	USA
2	102	yy.mm.dd	ANSI
3	103	dd/mm/yy	British/French
4	104	dd.mm.yy	German
5	105	dd-mm-yy	Italian
6	106	dd mon yy
7	107	Mon dd, yy
8	108	hh:mm:ss
-	9 or 109	mon dd yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmmAM (or PM)	Default+millisec
10	110	mm-dd-yy	USA
11	111	yy/mm/dd	Japan
12	112	yymmdd	ISO
-	13 or 113	dd mon yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmm (24h)
14	114	hh:mi:ss:mmm (24h)
-	20 or 120	yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss (24h)
-	21 or 121	yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss.mmm (24h)
-	126	yyyy-mm-ddThh:mi:ss.mmm (no spaces)	ISO8601
-	130	dd mon yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmmAM	Hijiri
-	131	dd/mm/yy hh:mi:ss:mmmAM	Hijiri

 

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Example

The following script uses the CONVERT() function to display different formats. We will use the GETDATE() function to get the current date/time:

CONVERT(VARCHAR(19),GETDATE())
CONVERT(VARCHAR(10),GETDATE(),10)
CONVERT(VARCHAR(10),GETDATE(),110)
CONVERT(VARCHAR(11),GETDATE(),6)
CONVERT(VARCHAR(11),GETDATE(),106)
CONVERT(VARCHAR(24),GETDATE(),113)

The result would look something like this:

Nov 04 2011 11:45 PM
11-04-11
11-04-2011
04 Nov 11
04 Nov 2011
04 Nov 2011 11:45:34:243