Getting this error in sqlplus — ORA-01855: AM/A.M. or PM/P.M. required

Question

I am executing this query and getting this error. Please help.

SQL> select to_timestamp((sysdate-1)||'01.00.00.000000000 PM','DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SS.FF PM') from dual;

ERROR at line 1: ORA-01855: AM/AM or PM/PM required

Answer 1

When you use sysdate without explicit casting, you assume that you NLS settings give a date in format 'DD-MON-RR' . To build a safer query, use explicit conversion, with format mask:

Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Express Edition Release 11.2.0.2.0 - 64bit Production

SQL> select to_timestamp(to_char(sysdate-1,'DD-MON-RR' ) ||' 01.00.00.000000000 PM','DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SS.FF PM') from dual;

TO_TIMESTAMP(TO_CHAR(SYSDATE-1,'DD-MON-RR')||'01.00.00.000000000PM','DD-MON
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
15-SET-16 13:00:00,000000000

SQL>