Oracle to_date function

The oracle to_date function converts a string in a specified format to an Oracle date format.

Syntax

to_date('formatted string'); (returns a date using the default oracle date format)
to_date('formatted string','format string'); (returns a date using the format string specified)
to_date('formatted string','format string','nls description');(returns a date using the format string specified and using the specified NLS settings)

Example:

to_date('01-JAN-2006');
to_date('01-01-2004','DD-MM-YYYY');
to_date('31-12-2006 23:34:59','DD-MM-YYYY HH24:MI:SS');
to_date('01-JAN-99''DD-MON-YY,'nls_date_language = American');

A list of all the format-strings you can use is listed here