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to_char function

to_char converts a timestamp into a string using the specified format.

The format string can be composed of any number of format specifiers, interspersed with regular text. You can place a specifier token inside of double-quotes to emit it literally.

Examples

RFC 2822 format

SELECT to_char(TIMESTAMPTZ '2019-11-26 15:56:46 +00:00', 'Dy, Mon DD YYYY HH24:MI:SS +0000') AS formatted

             formatted
 ---------------------------------
  Tue, Nov 26 2019 15:56:46 +0000

Additional non-interpreted text

Normally the W in “Welcome” would be converted to the week number, so we must quote it. The “to” doesn’t match any format specifiers, so quotes are optional.

SELECT to_char(TIMESTAMPTZ '2019-11-26 15:56:46 +00:00', '"Welcome" to Mon, YYYY') AS formatted

       formatted
 ----------------------
  Welcome to Nov, 2019

Ordinal modifiers

SELECT to_char(TIMESTAMPTZ '2019-11-1 15:56:46 +00:00', 'Dth of Mon') AS formatted

  formatted
 ------------
  6th of Nov

Format specifiers

Specifier 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/PM uppercase meridiem indicator (without periods)
am/pm lowercase meridiem indicator (without periods)
A.M./P.M. uppercase meridiem indicator (with periods)
a.m./p.m. lowercase meridiem indicator (with periods)
Y,YYY Y,YYY year (4 or more digits) with comma
YYYY year (4 or more digits)
YYY last 3 digits of year
YY last 2 digits of year
Y last digit of year
IYYY ISO 8601 week-numbering year (4 or more digits)
IYY last 3 digits of ISO 8601 week-numbering year
IY last 2 digits of ISO 8601 week-numbering year
I last digit of ISO 8601 week-numbering year
BC/AD uppercase era indicator (without periods)
bc/ad lowercase era indicator (without periods)
B.C./A.D. uppercase era indicator (with periods)
b.c./a.d. lowercase 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 day of ISO 8601 week-numbering 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 8601 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 week number of ISO 8601 week-numbering year (01-53; the first Thursday of the year is in week 1)
CC century (2 digits) (the twenty-first century starts on 2001-01-01)
J Julian Day (days since November 24, 4714 BC at midnight)
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

Specifier modifiers

Modifier Description Example Without Modification With Modification
FM prefix fill mode (suppress leading zeroes and padding blanks) FMMonth July July
TH/th suffix upper/lower case ordinal number suffix Dth 1 1st
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