# Char To Timestamp(Sys) The Char to Timestamp function is one of the most frequently-used system functions, because it lets you create a timestamp out of any correctly formatted input string. Using this function, you can specify which parts of the timestamp string you wish to use in subsequent processing, and create a TIMESTAMP value containing only those. To do so, you specify a template that identifies the parts of the timestamp you want. For example, to use only year and month, you would specify 'yyyy-MM'. The input date-time string can contain any parts of a full timestamp ('yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss'). If all these elements are present in your input string, and 'yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss' is the template you supply, then the input-string elements are interpreted in that order as year, month, day, hour, minute, and seconds, such as in '2009-09-16 03:15:24'. The yyyy cannot be uppercase; the hh can be uppercase to mean using a 24-hour clock. For the full range of valid specifiers, see [Class SimpleDateFormat](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/index.html?java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html) on the Oracle website. CHAR\$1TO\$1TIMESTAMP uses the template you specify as a parameter in the function call. The template causes the TIMESTAMP result to use only the parts of the input-date-time value that you specified in the template. Those fields in the resulting TIMESTAMP contain the corresponding data taken from your input-date-time string. Fields not specified in your template will use default values (see below). The format of the template used by CHAR\$1TO\$1TIMESTAMP is defined by the [Class SimpleDateFormat](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/index.html?java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html) on the Oracle website. For more information, see [Date and Time Patterns](sql-reference-parse-timestamp-format.md). The function-call syntax is as follows: ``` CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('','') ``` Where is the template you specify for the parts of you want, and is the original string that is being converted to a TIMESTAMP result. Note that each string must be enclosed in single quotes and each element of the must be in the range for its corresponding element in the template, otherwise no result is returned. For example, the input-string-element whose position corresponds with MM must be an integer from 1 to 12, because anything else does not represent a valid month. Similarly, the input-string-element whose position corresponds with dd must be an integer from 1 to 31, because anything else does not represent a valid day. (However, if MM is 2, dd cannot be 30 or 31, because February never has such days.) For hours, minutes, or seconds, the default starting value is zero, so when those specifiers are omitted from the template, zeroes are substituted. For months or days, the default starting value substituted for the omitted parts is 01. For example, using '2009-09-16 03:15:24' as your input string, you can obtain a TIMESTAMP containing only the date, with zeros for the other fields such as hours, minutes, or seconds. ``` CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy-MM-dd','2009-09-16 03:15:24'). ``` The result would is TIMESTAMP 2009-09-16 00:00:00. If the call had kept hours and minutes in the template while omitting months, days, and seconds, as illustrated in the following call. ``` --- --- CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy-hh-mm','2009-09-16 03:15:24') ``` Then, the resulting TIMESTAMP would be 2009-01-01 03:15:00. [Template Strings to Create Specific Output Timestamps](sql-reference-template-strings-create-output-timestamps.md) shows further illustrative examples of templates and input strings used to create the indicated output TIMESTAMPs. **Note** Input string MUST use the form 'yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss' or a subset or reordering thereof. As a result, using an input string like 'Wednesday, 16 September 2009 03:15:24' will NOT work, meaning that no output will result. ## About Delimiters and Values Delimiters in the template must match those in the input string and values in the input string must be acceptable for the template specifiers to which they correspond. As a general convention, a colon is used to separate hours from minutes, and minutes from seconds. Similarly, the general convention is to use a dash or slash to separate years from months and months from days. For example, the following template has values that line up correctly with the input string. ``` values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('MM/dd/yy hh:mm:ss','09/16/11 03:15:24') ); 'EXPR$0' '2011-09-16 03:15:24' 1 row selected ``` If values in the input string are not acceptable for the template specifiers to which they correspond, the result fails, as in the following example. ``` values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('MM/dd/yy hh:mm:ss','2009/09/16 03:15:24') ); 'EXPR$0' No rows selected ``` This example returns no rows because 2009 is not an acceptable value for months, which is the first specifier (MM) in the template. Omissions in the supplied string can cause the template value 'yyyy' to produce logical but unintended or unexpected results. The following examples each return an erroneous year, but one that derives directly from the first element in the supplied string. ``` VALUES(CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy','09-16 03:15')); 'EXPR$0' '0009-01-01 00:00:00' 1 row selected VALUES(CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy','16 03:15')); 'EXPR$0' '0016-01-01 00:00:00' 1 row selected ``` ## Examples Using Templates to Create TIMESTAMPS The order of the template must match the input string. That means that you cannot specify "hh" after "yyyy" and expect the method to find the hour automatically. For example, the following template specifies years first, then hours, then minutes, and returns an erroneous result. ``` values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy-hh-mm','2009-09-16 03:15:24')); 'EXPR$0' '2009-01-01 09:16:00' 1 row selected ``` Since the specifiers for months and days are not present in the template, their values in the input string were ignored, with 01 substituted for both values in the output TIMESTAMP. The template specified hours and minutes as the second and third input values, so 09 became the hours and 16 became the minutes. No specifier was present for seconds, so 00 was used. The years specifier can be alone or after a delimiter matching the input string shows the end of the years specifier, with one of the hours:minutes:seconds specifiers. ``` values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy','2009-09-16 03:15:24') ); 'EXPR$0' '2009-01-01 00:00:00' 1 row selected ``` In contrast, the template below fails because it has a space-as-delimiter before the "hh" rather than the dash delimiter used in the input string's date specification. ``` values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy hh','2009-09-16 03:15:24') ); 'EXPR$0' No rows selected ``` The four templates below work because they use the same delimiter to separate the years specifier from the next specifier as is used in the input string's date specification (dash in the first case, space in the second, slash in the third, and dash in the fourth). ``` values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy-hh','2009-09-16 03:15:24') ); 'EXPR$0' '2009-01-01 09:00:00' 1 row selected values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy hh','2009 09 16 03:15:24') ); 'EXPR$0' '2009-01-01 09:00:00' 1 row selected values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy/hh','2009/09/16 03:15:24') ); 'EXPR$0' '2009-01-01 09:00:00' 1 row selected values (CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('yyyy-mm','2009-09-16 03:15:24') ); 'EXPR$0' '2009-01-01 00:09:00' 1 row selected ``` However, if the template specifies months (MM), it cannot then specify hours, minutes, or seconds unless days are also specified. # Template Strings to Create Specific Output Timestamps | Template | Input String | Output TIMESTAMP | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 'yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss' | '2009-09-16 03:15:24' | '2009-09-16 03:15:24' | | 'yyyy-mm' | '2011-02-08 07:23:19' | '2011-01-01 00:02:00' | The template above specifies only year first and minutes second, so the second element in the input string ("02") is used as minutes. Default values are used for Month and Day ("01") and for hours and seconds ("00"). | | 'MMM dd, yyyy' | 'March 7, 2010' | '2010-03-07 00:00:00' | MMM in the template above matches "March"; the template's 'comma space' matches the input string. If the template lacks the comma, so must the input string, or there is no output; If the input string lacks the comma, so must the template. | | 'MMM dd,' | 'March 7, 2010' | '1970-03-07 00:00:00' | Note that the template above doesn't use a year specifier, causing the output TIMESTAMP to use the earliest year in this epoch, 1970. | | 'MMM dd,y' | 'March 7, 2010' | '2010-03-07 00:00:00' | Using the template above, if the input string were 'March 7, 10', the output TIMESTAMP would be '0010-03-07 00:00:00'. | | 'M-d' | '2-8' | '1970-02-08 00:00:00' | Absent a yyyy specifier in the template, as above, the earliest year in this epoch (1970) is used. An input string of '2–8−2011' would give the same result; using '2011–2−8' would give no result because 2011 is not a valid month. | | 'MM-dd-yyyy' | '06-23-2011 10:11:12' | '2011-06-23 00:00:00' | Dashes as delimiters (as above) are fine, if template and input both use them in the same positions. Since the template omits hours, minutes, and seconds, zeroes are used in the output TIMESTAMP. | | `'dd-MM-yy hh:mm:ss'` | `'23-06-11 10:11:12'` | `'2011-06-23 10:11:12'` | You can have the specifiers in any order as long as that order matches the meaning of the input string you supply. The template and input string of the next example below have the same meaning (and the same output TIMESTAMP) as this example, but they specify months before days and seconds before hours. | | `'MM-dd-yy ss:hh:mm'` | `'06-23-11 12:10:11'` | `'2011-06-23 10:11:12'` | In the template used above, the order of the month and day specifiers is reversed from the example just above, and the specifier for seconds is before hours instead of after minutes; but because the input string also puts months before days and seconds before hours, the meaning (and the output TIMESTAMP) is the same as the example ABOVE. | | `'yy-dd-MM ss:hh:mm'` | `'06-23-11 12:10:11'` | `'2006-11-23 10:11:12'` | The template used above reverses (compared to the prior example above) the years and months specifiers, while the input string remains the same. In this case, the output TIMESTAMP uses the first element of the input string as the years, the second as the days, and the third as the months. | | `'dd-MM-yy hh:mm'` | `'23-06-11 10:11:12'` | `'2011-06-23 10:11:00'` | With seconds omitted in the template, as above, the output TIMESTAMP uses 00 seconds. Any number of y specifiers produces the same result; but if the input string inadvertently uses a 1 instead of 11 for the year, as in '23-06-1 10:11:12', then the output TIMESTAMP becomes '0001-06-23 10:11:00'. | | `'MM/dd/yy hh:mm:ss'` | `'12/19/11 10:11:12'` `'12/19/11 12:11:12'` | `'2011-12-19 10:11:12'` `'12/19/11 00:11:12'` | Slashes as delimiters are fine, if template and input both use them in the same positions, as above. Using specifier hh, input times of 12:11:10 and 00:11:10 have the same meaning as a time in the morning. | | `'MM/dd/yy HH:mm:ss'` | `'12/19/11 12:59:59'` `'12/19/11 21:08:07'` `'2011-12-19 00:11:12'` `'2011-12-19 12:11:12'` | `'2011-12-19 12:59:59'` `'2011-12-19 21:08:07'` | The input-string values `'2011-12-19 00:11:12'` or `'2011-12-19 12:11:12'` would fail with this template because `'2011'` is not a month, as required/expected by the template-string `'MM/dd/yy HH:mm:ss'`. However, changing the template gives useful output: 
values(cast(CHAR_TO_TIMESTAMP('y/MM/dd HH:mm:ss', '2011/12/19 00:11:12') as
varchar(19)));
'EXPR$0'
'2011-12-19 00:11:12'
1 row selected `'12/19/11 00:11:12'` would fail with the above template (`'y/MM/dd'`), since 19 is not a valid month; supplying '`12/11/19 00:11:12'` works. `'2011-12-19 12:11:12'` would fail as input because dashes don't match the slashes in the template, `'2011/12/19 12:11:12'` works. Note that for times after 12 noon (that is, for afternoon and evening times), the hours specifier must be HH instead of hh, and the input string must specify the afternoon or evening hour in 24-hour clock time, hours running from 00 to 23. Using specifier HH, input times of 12:11:10 and 00:11:10 have different meanings, the first as a time in the afternoon and the second as a time in the morning. Using the specifier hh, the times from 12:00 through 11:59:59 are morning times: [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/kinesisanalytics/latest/sqlref/sql-reference-template-strings-create-output-timestamps.html) |