TO_NCHAR (datetime)

Purpose

This function converts the values of the DATE, TIMESTAMP, TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE, TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE, INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH, and INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND data types from the database character set to the national character set.

Syntax

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

Parameters

Return type

The national character set.

Examples

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

  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 the interval value to a numeric interval value and set the return language 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