If you have a character string that represents a date, and you want to convert it into a date value, you can use the STR_TO_DATE(string, format) function. STR_TO_DATE() shares the same formatting codes with DATE_FORMAT() function. The tutorial exercise below shows you some good examples:

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('Friday, January 31, 1997',

'%W, %M %e, %Y') FROM DUAL;

1997-01-31

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('Friday, January 31, 1997, 09:26:50 AM',

'%W, %M %e, %Y, %h:%i:%s %p') FROM DUAL;

1997-01-31 09:26:50

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('31-Jan-1997 09:26:50.000123',

'%d-%b-%Y %H:%i:%s.%f') FROM DUAL;

1997-01-31 09:26:50.000123