How do I convert a string to a date in SQL?

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In SQL, several situations may necessitate the conversion of a string into a date. This conversion is necessary whenever we deal with dates because the database stores them as a string. SQL possesses a built-in function, the CONVERT() function, which we can use to achieve this conversion. Explicit data conversion is a useful skill for any SQL programmer.

SQL CONVERT Function

The CONVERT() function is a built-in function in SQL that you can use to convert data from one type to another. The syntax of this function is as follows:

In this function, data_type(length) is the target data type you wish to convert to. The expression is the actual data that you’re looking to convert, and the style is the optional parameter that determines how the data will be formatted upon conversion.

String-to-Date Conversion

To convert a string to a date, we specify the desired data type as date or datetime. Let’s assume we have a string ‘2022-04-01’ that we wish to convert into a date. Check out the following SQL statement:

This statement converts the string ‘2022-04-01’ into a date.

Working with Different Date Formats

Dates can come in a variety of formats, and it’s essential to handle these cases correctly. In SQL, we can do this by passing a third argument to the CONVERT() function, describing the current format of the string. As an example, let’s take ‘April 01 2022’ as a string, and we want to convert it to a date:

The , 107 here specifies that the string is currently in the ‘Mon DD, YYYY’ format. Each number passed represents a different date format.

With this knowledge, you should now be able to convert string data into date data in SQL. This is a crucial skill when manipulating and managing data in SQL and a valuable tool in your programming arsenal. Remember that practice is key to mastering these conversions.

Happy coding!