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PostgreSQL: Data Type Formatting Functions

Data Type Formatting Functions

There are various PostgreSQL formatting functions available for converting various data types (date/time, integer, floating point, numeric) to formatted strings and for converting from formatted strings to specific data types. Before discussing the formatting functions we will discuss various patterns available for formatting date and time values.

Patterns for Date/Time Formatting

Pattern Description
HH hour of day (01-12)
HH12 hour of day (01-12)
HH24 hour of day (00-23)
MI minute (00-59)
SS second (00-59)
MS millisecond (000-999)
US microsecond (000000-999999)
SSSS seconds past midnight (0-86399)
AM, am, PM or pm meridiem indicator (without periods)
A.M., a.m., P.M. or p.m. meridiem indicator (with periods)
Y,YYY year (4 and more digits) with comma
YYYY year (4 and more digits)
YYY last 3 digits of year
YY last 2 digits of year
Y last digit of year
IYYY ISO year (4 and more digits)
IYY last 3 digits of ISO year
IY last 2 digits of ISO year
I last digit of ISO year
BC, bc, AD or ad era indicator (without periods)
B.C., b.c., A.D. or a.d. era indicator (with periods)
MONTH full upper case month name (blank-padded to 9 chars)
Month full capitalized month name (blank-padded to 9 chars)
month full lower case month name (blank-padded to 9 chars)
MON abbreviated upper case month name (3 chars in English, localized lengths vary)
Mon abbreviated capitalized month name (3 chars in English, localized lengths vary)
mon abbreviated lower case month name (3 chars in English, localized lengths vary)
MM month number (01-12)
DAY full upper case day name (blank-padded to 9 chars)
Day full capitalized day name (blank-padded to 9 chars)
day full lower case day name (blank-padded to 9 chars)
DY abbreviated upper case day name (3 chars in English, localized lengths vary)
Dy abbreviated capitalized day name (3 chars in English, localized lengths vary)
dy abbreviated lower case day name (3 chars in English, localized lengths vary)
DDD day of year (001-366)
IDDD ISO day of year (001-371; day 1 of the year is Monday of the first ISO week.)
DD day of month (01-31)
D day of the week, Sunday(1) to Saturday(7)
ID ISO day of the week, Monday(1) to Sunday(7)
W week of month (1-5) (The first week starts on the first day of the month.)
WW week number of year (1-53) (The first week starts on the first day of the year.)
IW ISO week number of year (01 - 53; the first Thursday of the new year is in week 1.)
CC century (2 digits) (The twenty-first century starts on 2001-01-01.)
J Julian Day (integer days since November 24, 4714 BC at midnight UTC)
Q quarter (ignored by to_date and to_timestamp)
RM month in upper case Roman numerals (I-XII; I=January)
rm month in lower case Roman numerals (i-xii; i=January)
TZ upper case time-zone name
tz lower case time-zone name

Patterns for Numeric Formatting

Pattern Description
9 value with the specified number of digits
0 value with leading zeros
. (period) decimal point
, (comma) group (thousand) separator
PR negative value in angle brackets
S sign anchored to number (uses locale)
L currency symbol (uses locale)
D decimal point (uses locale)
G group separator (uses locale)
MI minus sign in specified position (if number < 0)
PL plus sign in specified position (if number > 0)
SG plus/minus sign in specified position
RN Roman numeral (input between 1 and 3999)
TH or th ordinal number suffix
V shift specified number of digits (see notes)
EEEE exponent for scientific notation

Formatting Functions

Function Return Type Description Example
to_char(timestamp, text) text convert time stamp to string to_char(current_timestamp, 'HH12:MI:SS')
to_char(interval, text) text convert interval to string to_char(interval '15h 2m 12s', 'HH24:MI:SS')
to_char(int, text) text convert integer to string to_char(125, '999')
to_char(double precision, text) text convert real/double precision to string to_char(125.8::real, '999D9')
to_char(numeric, text) text convert numeric to string to_char(-125.8, '999D99S')
to_date(text, text) date convert string to date to_date('05 Dec 2000', 'DD Mon YYYY')
to_number(text, text) numeric convert string to numeric to_number('12,454.8-', '99G999D9S')
to_timestamp(text, text) timestamp with time zone convert string to time stamp to_timestamp('05 Dec 2000', 'DD Mon YYYY')
to_timestamp(double precision) timestamp with time zone convert Unix epoch to time stamp to_timestamp(1284352323)

In a to_char output template string, there are certain patterns that are recognized and replaced with appropriately-formatted.

Bit String Operators

Operator Description
|| concatenation
& bitwise AND
| bitwise OR
# bitwise XOR
~ bitwise NOT
<< bitwise shift left
>> bitwise shift right

Example: concatenation (||) operator

postgres=# SELECT 'w3' || 'resource';
  ?column?
------------
 w3resource
(1 row)

Example: bitwise AND (&) operator

postgres=# SELECT  2 & 15;
 ?column?
----------
        2
(1 row)

Example: bitwise OR (|) operator

postgres=# SELECT 2 | 5;
 ?column?
----------
        7
(1 row)

Example: bitwise XOR (#) operator

postgres=# SELECT  2 ^ 15;
 ?column?
----------
    32768
(1 row))

Example: bitwise NOT (~) operator

postgres=# SELECT  ~2;
 ?column?
----------
       -3
(1 row)

Example: bitwise shift left (<<) operator

postgres=# SELECT  2 << 5;
 ?column?
----------
       64
(1 row)

Example: bitwise shift right (>>) operator

postgres=# SELECT  8 >> 2;
 ?column?
----------
        2
(1 row)

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