Re: Getting long dates

Jason -

If you want to affect the whole database (instance) then you want to redefine: NLS_DATE_FORMAT with the format that you want (MM/DD/YY HH24:MI), (see your DBA to do this)

You can do this at transaction level i.e. in a SQL*Plus session type:

SQL > ALTER SESSION SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT = 'MM/DD/YY HH24:MI'; then any date queried will default to this format.

In SQL queries use the TO_CHAR standard function i.e.

SELECT TO_CHAR(date_column,'MM/DD/YY HH24:MI') FROM ...
etc.
/

Word of warning though - the millenium is not that far away so you might want to consider using a four digit year by default. . .

Hope this helps. Feel free to reply if this doesn't work out!

• Martyn Cavett Senior ORACLE Analyst LGT Asset Management London, UK. home: cavett_at_globalnet.co.uk work: Martyn.Cavett_at_gtplc.com

These views are my own and not those of my employer. Normal conditions apply.
nb. anonymous return address used - please replace reply address with those given above.

Jason C Miller <jm+@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote in article <AneVunO00YUu0fuUQ0_at_andrew.cmu.edu>...
> I'm trying to get Oracle queries to return long dates format
> (actually, I'm pref'ing to "MM/DD/YY HH24:MI" if possible. Normal
> queries seem to give me just the date. I've tried many combinations
> of "in" and the "to_char" function, but I'm hoping I've missed out on
> a much easier way. Perhaps even a way to make this default for the
> entire database and not just a given query.
>
> I'm using OWS 7.3 and WebServer (WebApp Server if you will) and would
> like to easily be able to query with the long dates. It would be
> extra wonderful if I didn't need to change the included Oracle
> "tablePrint" command to bring up this data (or do some type of view
> select for each table, which is just as ugly IMO).
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Jason
>
>

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