SQL Server CONVERT() Function
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 |
Example
The following script uses the CONVERT() function to display different formats:
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