informatica datetime datatype format

Question

I want to convert the string 20160101000000 into datetime format using expression. I have used below date function

 TO_DATE(PERIOD_END_DATE),'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS')

But my table file is not loading. My session and workflow gets succeed. My target and source is also flatfile.

I want to change the string 20160101000000 into MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS for loading data into my target table.

Answer 1

You need to give exact format that looks so that to_date function can understand that format and converts it into date.

 TO_DATE(PERIOD_END_DATE,'YYYYMMDDHH24MISS')

So here your date looks like YYYYMMDDHH24MISS (20160101000000).

Answer 2

There is often confusion with the TO_DATE function... it is in fact for converting a string into a date and the function itself is to describe the pattern of the incoming date. Now if you want to convert a date field to a specified date format you must use TO_CHAR