How to Format a Date in Oracle
Last updated August 25, 2026 · By the SaturnSQL team
Use TO_CHAR(date, format_mask) to render a DATE as text: TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD'). Add the fm modifier to drop leading zeros and padding.
SELECT TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD') AS iso_date,
TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'DD-MON-YYYY') AS display_date,
TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS') AS with_time
FROM employees;Common format masks
DD, MM, YYYY are day/month/4-digit-year. MON is the abbreviated month name (JAN, FEB), MONTH the full name, DY the abbreviated weekday. HH24 is 24-hour, HH12 with AM/PM needs the AM (or PM) element. Case in the mask controls case in the output: 'Mon' renders 'Aug', 'MON' renders 'AUG'.
SELECT TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'Day, DD Month YYYY') AS long_form,
TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'HH12:MI AM') AS clock_time
FROM employees;MONTH and DAY are fixed-width and blank-padded to the longest name in the language ('May ' has trailing spaces to match 'September'). Prefix with fm to suppress that padding and also strip leading zeros from numeric elements: TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'fmMonth DD, YYYY') gives 'August 25, 2026' instead of 'August 25, 2026'.
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