MySQL STR_TO_DATE() function

Last update on August 19 2022 21:50:42 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

STR_TO_DATE() function

MySQL STR_TO_DATE() returns a datetime value by taking a string and a specific format string as arguments.

If the date or time or datetime value specified as a string is illegal, the function returns NULL. The format specifiers have been described in DATE_FORMAT() work with this function also.

Syntax:

STR_TO_DATE(str,format);

Arguments:

Name	Description
str	A string.
format	A date format.

Syntax Diagram:

MySQL Version: 5.6

Video Presentation:

Pictorial Presentation:

Example: MySQL STR_TO_DATE() function

The following statement will return a valid date from the given string 18,05,2009 according to the format %d,%m,%Y.

Code:

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('18,05,2009','%d,%m,%Y');

Sample Output:

mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('18,05,2009','%d,%m,%Y');
+--------------------------------------+
| STR_TO_DATE('18,05,2009','%d,%m,%Y') |
+--------------------------------------+
| 2009-05-18                           | 
+--------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

PHP script:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>example-STR_TO_DATE-function - php mysql examples | w3resource</title>
<meta name="description" content="example-STR_TO_DATE-function - php mysql examples | w3resource">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/css/bootstrap.min.css">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-12">
<h2>Getting a valid date from the given string according to the format '%d,%m,%Y':</h2>
<table class='table table-bordered'>
<tr>
<th>Valid date</th>
</tr>
<?php
$hostname="your_hostname";
$username="your_username";
$password="your_password";
$db = "your_dbname";
$dbh = new PDO("mysql:host=$hostname;dbname=$db", $username, $password);
foreach($dbh->query('SELECT STR_TO_DATE("18,05,2009","%d,%m,%Y")') as $row) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" . $row['STR_TO_DATE("18,05,2009","%d,%m,%Y")'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
?>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

View the example in browser

JSP script:

<%@page contentType="text/html" pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<%@ page import="java.sql.*" %>
<%@ page import="java.io.*" %>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>example-str_to_date-function</title>
</head>
<body>
<%
try {
Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
String Host = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/w3resour_bookinfo";
Connection connection = null;
Statement statement = null;
ResultSet rs = null;
connection = DriverManager.getConnection(Host, "root", "datasoft123");
statement = connection.createStatement();
String Data ="SELECT STR_TO_DATE('18,05,2009','%d,%m,%Y')";
rs = statement.executeQuery(Data);
%>
<TABLE border="1">
<tr width="10" bgcolor="#9979">
<td>Valid date</td>
</tr>
<%
while (rs.next()) {
%>
<TR>
<TD><%=rs.getString("STR_TO_DATE('18,05,2009','%d,%m,%Y')")%></TD>
</TR>
<%   }    %>
</table>
<%
rs.close();
statement.close();
connection.close();
} catch (Exception ex) {
out.println("Can’t connect to database.");
}
%>
</body>
</html>

Example: STR_TO_DATE() function using %M %d,%Y

The following statement will return a valid date from the given string May 18, 2009 according to the format %M %d,%Y.

Code:

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('May 18, 2009','%M %d,%Y');

Sample Output:

mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('May 18, 2009','%M %d,%Y');
+----------------------------------------+
| STR_TO_DATE('May 18, 2009','%M %d,%Y') |
+----------------------------------------+
| 2009-05-18                             | 
+----------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

PHP script:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>example1-STR_TO_DATE-function - php mysql examples | w3resource</title>
<meta name="description" content="example1-STR_TO_DATE-function - php mysql examples | w3resource">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/css/bootstrap.min.css">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-12">
<h2>Gettting a valid date from the given string according to the format '%M %d,%Y':</h2>
<table class='table table-bordered'>
<tr>
<th>Valid date</th>
</tr>
<?php
$hostname="your_hostname";
$username="your_username";
$password="your_password";
$db = "your_dbname";
$dbh = new PDO("mysql:host=$hostname;dbname=$db", $username, $password);
foreach($dbh->query('SELECT STR_TO_DATE("May 18, 2009","%M %d,%Y")') as $row) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" . $row['STR_TO_DATE("May 18, 2009","%M %d,%Y")'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
?>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

View the example in browser

Example: STR_TO_DATE() function using (%m/%d/%Y) format

The following statement will return a valid date from the given string 05/18/2009 according to the format %m/%d/%Y.

Code:

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('05/18/2009', '%m/%d/%Y');

Sample Output:

mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('05/18/2009', '%m/%d/%Y');
+---------------------------------------+
| STR_TO_DATE('05/18/2009', '%m/%d/%Y') |
+---------------------------------------+
| 2009-05-18                            | 
+---------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

PHP script:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>example2-STR_TO_DATE-function - php mysql examples | w3resource</title>
<meta name="description" content="example2-STR_TO_DATE-function - php mysql examples | w3resource">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.5/css/bootstrap.min.css">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-12">
<h2>Getting a valid date from the given string according to the format '%m/%d/%Y':</h2>
<table class='table table-bordered'>
<tr>
<th>Valid date</th>
</tr>
<?php
$hostname="your_hostname";
$username="your_username";
$password="your_password";
$db = "your_dbname";
$dbh = new PDO("mysql:host=$hostname;dbname=$db", $username, $password);
foreach($dbh->query('SELECT STR_TO_DATE("05/18/2009", "%m/%d/%Y")') as $row) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" . $row['STR_TO_DATE("05/18/2009", "%m/%d/%Y")'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
?>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

View the example in browser

Example: STR_TO_DATE() function using %h:%i:%s

The following statement will return a valid time from the given string 11:59:59 according to the format %h:%i:%s.

Code:

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('11:59:59','%h:%i:%s');

Sample Output:

mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('11:59:59','%h:%i:%s');
+------------------------------------+
| STR_TO_DATE('11:59:59','%h:%i:%s') |
+------------------------------------+
| 11:59:59                           | 
+------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

The following statement will return NULL because the format specifier %h %i %s (HOUR MINUTE SECOND) is not compatible with the contains of the string 11:59:59 (HOUR:MINUTE:SECOND).

Code:

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('11:59:59','%h %i %s');

Sample Output:

mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('11:59:59','%h %i %s');
+------------------------------------+
| STR_TO_DATE('11:59:59','%h %i %s') |
+------------------------------------+
| NULL                               | 
+------------------------------------+
1 row in set, 1 warning (0.02 sec)

Example: STR_TO_DATE() function using %W %D %M %Y %H:%i:%s format

The following statement will return a valid datetime from the given string Monday 15th September 2008 22:23:00 according to the format %W %D %M %Y %H:%i:%s.

Code:

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('Monday 15th September 2008 22:23:00',
  '%W %D %M %Y %H:%i:%s');

Sample Output:

 mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('Monday 15th September 2008 22:23:00', '%W %D %M %Y %H:%i:%s');
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| STR_TO_DATE('Monday 15th September 2008 22:23:00', '%W %D %M %Y %H:%i:%s') |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 2008-09-15 22:23:00                                                        | 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

All Date and Time Functions:

Click here to see the MySQL Date and time functions.

Previous: SECOND()
Next: SUBDATE()

We are closing our Disqus commenting system for some maintenanace issues. You may write to us at reach[at]yahoo[dot]com or visit us at Facebook