TO_NCHAR (datetime)

Purpose

TO_NCHAR (datetime) converts a value of the DATE, TIMESTAMP, TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE, TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE, INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH, or INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND data type in the database character set to a data type in the national character set.

Syntax

TO_NCHAR({ datetime | interval }[, fmt [, 'nlsparam' ] ])

Parameters

Return type

This function returns the data type of the national character set.

Examples

• Use the TO_NCHAR function to return the current date in the YYYY/MM/DD and DSDL formats respectively.

  obclient> SELECT TO_NCHAR(SYSDATE,'yyyy/mm/dd'),TO_NCHAR(SYSDATE,'DSDL') FROM DUAL;
  +--------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
  | TO_NCHAR(SYSDATE,'YYYY/MM/DD') | TO_NCHAR(SYSDATE,'DSDL')               |
  +--------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
  | 2021/12/09                     | 12/09/2021 Thursday, December 09, 2021 |
  +--------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
  1 row in set
  

• Convert a time interval value to the numeric format and set the language of the returned result to AMERICAN.

  obclient> SELECT TO_NCHAR(interval'90' MINUTE, 'SS-MI-HH', 'nls_language = AMERICAN') FROM DUAL;
  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
  | TO_NCHAR(INTERVAL'90'MINUTE,'SS-MI-HH','NLS_LANGUAGE=AMERICAN') |
  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
  | +00 01:30:00                                                    |
  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
  1 row in set