Return an oracle column as timestamp - sql

I'm in coldfusion working with data from an sql table, and using a query of queries to join the sql data to some data from an oracle database. Unfortunately, I need to order them by date, and the oracle table has two columns - DRWR_DATE which is of type DATE and TIME which is of type VARCHAR2. The two columns put into a string read 17-JUN-03 16:35:18 or something similar. I need to return these two columns as a TIMESTAMP so I can use query of queries to sort them.
Also, I think I read that a date column holds the time in Oracle anyway? I don't have much experience with Oracle so I am unsure how best to do this.

Try this:
SELECT to_timestamp(
to_char( drwr_date,'dd-mon-yy') ||' '|| time
, 'dd-mon-yy hh24:mi:ss'
)
FROM your_table

Try using TO_TIMESTAMP function:
SELECT TO_TIMESTAMP('17-JUN-03 16:35:18', 'DD-MON-RR HH24:MI:SS')
FROM DUAL;

you can try converting the column to date as the following:
TO_DATE(column,'DD-MON-YY HH24:MI:SS')
The first parameter takes your column and the second parameter specifies the date format that is used

If all you have to do is order by date, all you need is an order by clause.
order by drwr_date, time
You don't have to cast these to anything, unless you need to do so for another reason. Remember that a date datatype is essentially a floating point number. This, "17-JUN-03" is simply how your client is displaying it.

Related

Formatting timestamp in oracle

We have a column of type varchar2(200 char) which holds a timestamp in the format 2019-03-28:17:01:44.407000000
Now we would like to update the values in the column so that the format looks like 3/28/2019 5:01:43.475 PM
We are using Oracle 12c.
I am new to oracle, Any lead would be helpful.
This is a pretty terrible data model. A timestamp should really, really be stored in a timestamp column rather than in a varchar2. Both because then the data type identifies what is actually in the column and because it is more efficient and because it lets you use all Oracle's timestamp functions on the data sensibly.
Assuming that you are stuck with an incorrect data model
update your_table
set your_column = to_char( to_timestamp( your_column, 'YYYY-MM-DD:HH24:MI:SS.FF9' ),
'MM/DD/YYYY HH:MI:SS.FF3 PM' )
would update all the data to the new format in the unlikely event that every single value in the table is in the correct format already. In most real-world systems, you'd need to do a fair amount of clean-up first because inevitably someone has stored in incorrect string or two in your column.
If you do happen to be able to update all the data successfully, be aware that any queries that do order by your_column will almost certainly stop doing what you want. Since the column is a varchar2 rather than a timestamp, sorting is done alphabetically rather than by the point in time that the string represents. If you change the format to something where temporal order doesn't match alphabetical order, you are likely to have unhappy users.

SQL query to retrieve last twelve months data for Oracle database

I am using Oracle database. I have a table called "TEST" where the dates/timestamps(These are stored as "Char" in my case) are stored in the following format. Now I want to retrieve the records of last twelve months based on today's date. What would be the correct way to do that?
TESTCOLUMN
------------
2019-06-28-02.01.07.327240
2020-06-28-04.49.12.480240
2020-06-28-05.05.10.681240
I think you need to use the ADD_MONTHS function and BETWEEN clause as follows:
SELECT * FROM YOUR_TABLE
WHERE TO_TIMESTAMP(YOUR_COLUMN,'YYYY-MM-DD HH24.MI.SS.FF')
BETWEEN ADD_MONTHS(SYSTIMESTAMP,-12) AND SYSTIMESTAMP;
Although storing values in a string is not recommended, your format is comparable. So you can do the comparison using strings rather than date/timestamps. Assuming your values are only in the past:
where testcolumn >= to_char(SYSTIMESTAMP, -12), 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24.MI.SS.FF')
This has an advantage over Tejash's solution, because this can make use of an index (or partitions) on testcolumn. Moving the date manipulations only on the "constants" (i.e. the system timestamp) helps the Oracle optimizer.

Does the trim function in Oracle have limitations based on the datatype it handles?

I tried selecting records from a table using the query:
select *
from TableA
where trim(DateField)='31-Dec-2015'
which returned 0 rows.
However, leaving put the trim function gave me records matching my where condition. Can't point put the error.
I think you are confusing the trim and trunc functions. You also have data conversion issues. Dates should be compared to dates. By using trim you are forcing oracle to turn the date field into a string.
select * from TableA where trunc(DateField) = to_date('31-Dec-2015','dd-Mon-yyyy');
Better would be:
select *
from TableA
where DateField between to_date('31-Dec-2015','dd-Mon-yyyy')
and to_date('31-Dec-2015 23:59:59', 'dd-Mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss');

is that possible sql keep tracking the time?

I'm a freshman in sql. So that recently my lecture had give us one practical.
The practical file was showing an error.
INSERT INTO sales VALUES ('6380', '1111', '2012-10-01 00:00:00', 2, '30', 'TC7777');
The error was 00:00:00. As my lecture say SQL did not allow this format
So here comes my question:
- Is that possible SQL keep tracking all the time , like the 00:00:00 ?
- And is that SQL are key sensitive , SELECT and select or I should keep the habit that put all in upper case ?
Speaking to Oracle only, the database ALWAYS stores times with date/timestamp values. You just have to properly tell it to do so. In your example, you could say:
INSERT INTO sales
VALUES ('6380', '1111', TO_DATE('2012-10-01 00:00:00','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS')...
The default format for date values in Oracle is governed by the NLS_DATE_FORMAT system parameter in the database. If you don't explicitly supply date values with the TO_DATE function, Oracle will expect date strings to conform to this format. That's why you're getting an error in your example. Also, if you don't supply a time value, it defaults to 00:00:00.
The same principle applies on output, too. You can accept the default output for a date value by simply selecting the value:
SQL> select sysdate from dual;
SYSDATE
---------
27-JUN-15
SQL>
Or you can format it with TO_CHAR:
SQL> select TO_CHAR(sysdate, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS') from dual;
TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'YY
-------------------
2015-06-27 11:10:48
SQL>
Is that possible SQL keep tracking all the time , like the 00:00:00 ?
If your Datatype in SQL table is Date, By default in Oracle, Default format for date is Date only so If you are specifying Time with date while inserting data you get error.
To Insert time with date, you have to convert date format while insert data
TO_DATE('2003/05/03 21:02:44', 'yyyy/mm/dd hh24:mi:ss')
SEE Example
You can change this default date format with
alter session set nls_date_format= your date format here
NLS_DATE_FORMAT Refer Here
is that SQL are key sensitive , SELECT and select or I should keep the
habit that put all in upper case ?
SQL is not case sensitive, you can use either one, UPPER CASE, lower case or even Camel Case. Example :- SELECT or select or even Select. Just for better readability, Prefer to use All keywords in UPPER Case.

SQL oracle beginner questions

Question1:
Do i have to use to_date while inserting date?
INSERT INTO some_table (date1, date2)
VALUES (to_date('2012-10-24','YYYY-MM-DD'), to_date('2012-10-24','YYYY-MM-DD'));
Or can just insert as string? Will everything be OK this way too? I've tried and it worked.
INSERT INTO some_table (date1, date2)
VALUES ('2012-10-24',2012-10-24');
Question2:
What happens if i won't name columns that i'm inserting into? It works, but my question is if it inserts randomly now or it takes order of columns during creation of table?
INSERT INTO some_table
VALUES ('2012-10-24',2012-10-24');
1 seems to only work with the 'YYYY-MM-DD' format:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b28286/sql_elements003.htm#SQLRF51049 says
You can specify a DATE value as a string literal ... to specify a DATE value as a literal, you must use the Gregorian calendar. You can specify an ANSI literal... The ANSI date literal contains no time portion, and must be specified in the format 'YYYY-MM-DD'.
However, it might work with time if you use the
Alternatively you can specify an Oracle date value... The default date format for an Oracle DATE value is specified by the initialization parameter NLS_DATE_FORMAT.
For question 2, it uses the order at definition of the table. However you have to give values for all columns in that case.
Oracle supports Standard SQL date literals (since 9i).
It's DATE followed by a string with 'yyyy-mm-dd' format
DATE '2014-05-10'
It's much shorter than TO_DATE and it's independent of any NLS settings.
Similar for timestamps:
TIMESTAMP '2014-05-10 09:52:35'
Regarding your 2nd question: It's the order of columns as defined within the CREATE TABLE.
You could even do it like this one:
ALTER SESSION SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT = 'MM:YYYY:DD';
INSERT INTO some_table (date1) VALUES ('05:2014:10');
...but doing it like this is not recommended. Use TO_DATE or DATE Literal, e.g. DATE '2014-05-10' instead. It makes your life easier.