In MySQL, you can use the GET_FORMAT() function to return a format string for the provided arguments. This can be useful when you need to provide a format string to another function, such as DATE_FORMAT() or STR_TO_DATE().

Syntax

The official syntax goes like this:

GET_FORMAT({DATE|TIME|DATETIME}, {'EUR'|'USA'|'JIS'|'ISO'|'INTERNAL'})

Example 1 – Basic Usage

Here’s an example to demonstrate how it works.

SELECT GET_FORMAT(DATE,'USA');

Result:

+------------------------+
| GET_FORMAT(DATE,'USA') |
+------------------------+
| %m.%d.%Y               |
+------------------------+

So this example returns the format string for USA. We can now take that format string and use it in various date formatting functions.

Like this:

SELECT DATE_FORMAT('2020-03-07', '%m.%d.%Y') AS 'Formatted';

Result:

+------------+
| Formatted  |
+------------+
| 03.07.2020 |
+------------+

However, we can also pass this function directly to the DATE_FORMAT() function. Like this:

SELECT DATE_FORMAT('2020-03-07', GET_FORMAT(DATE,'USA')) AS 'Formatted';

Result:

+------------+
| Formatted  |
+------------+
| 03.07.2020 |
+------------+

So this saves us from having to remember what format string to use – GET_FORMAT() does that for us.

Example 2 – Date Values

This example lists out all the variations of the second argument when the first argument is DATE.

SELECT 
    GET_FORMAT(DATE,'USA') AS 'USA',
    GET_FORMAT(DATE,'JIS') AS 'JIS',
    GET_FORMAT(DATE,'ISO') AS 'ISO',
    GET_FORMAT(DATE,'EUR') AS 'EUR',
    GET_FORMAT(DATE,'INTERNAL') AS 'INTERNAL';

Result:

+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| USA      | JIS      | ISO      | EUR      | INTERNAL |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| %m.%d.%Y | %Y-%m-%d | %Y-%m-%d | %d.%m.%Y | %Y%m%d   |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

Example 3 – Datetime Values

This example lists out all the variations of the second argument when the first argument is DATETIME.

SELECT 
    GET_FORMAT(DATETIME,'USA') AS 'USA',
    GET_FORMAT(DATETIME,'JIS') AS 'JIS',
    GET_FORMAT(DATETIME,'ISO') AS 'ISO',
    GET_FORMAT(DATETIME,'EUR') AS 'EUR',
    GET_FORMAT(DATETIME,'INTERNAL') AS 'INTERNAL';

Result:

+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------+--------------+
| USA               | JIS               | ISO               | EUR               | INTERNAL     |
+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------+--------------+
| %Y-%m-%d %H.%i.%s | %Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s | %Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s | %Y-%m-%d %H.%i.%s | %Y%m%d%H%i%s |
+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------+--------------+

Example 4 – Time Values

This example lists out all the variations of the second argument when the first argument is TIME.

SELECT 
    GET_FORMAT(TIME,'USA') AS 'USA',
    GET_FORMAT(TIME,'JIS') AS 'JIS',
    GET_FORMAT(TIME,'ISO') AS 'ISO',
    GET_FORMAT(TIME,'EUR') AS 'EUR',
    GET_FORMAT(TIME,'INTERNAL') AS 'INTERNAL';

Result:

+-------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| USA         | JIS      | ISO      | EUR      | INTERNAL |
+-------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| %h:%i:%s %p | %H:%i:%s | %H:%i:%s | %H.%i.%s | %H%i%s   |
+-------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

Unit Specifiers

The returned format string can be made up of any combination of the following specifiers.

Specifier	Description
%a	Abbreviated weekday name (Sun..Sat)
%b	Abbreviated month name (Jan..Dec)
%c	Month, numeric (0..12)
%D	Day of the month with English suffix (0th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, …)
%d	Day of the month, numeric (00..31)
%e	Day of the month, numeric (0..31)
%f	Microseconds (000000..999999)
%H	Hour (00..23)
%h	Hour (01..12)
%I	Hour (01..12)
%i	Minutes, numeric (00..59)
%j	Day of year (001..366)
%k	Hour (0..23)
%l	Hour (1..12)
%M	Month name (January..December)
%m	Month, numeric (00..12)
%p	AM or PM
%r	Time, 12-hour (hh:mm:ss followed by AM or PM)
%S	Seconds (00..59)
%s	Seconds (00..59)
%T	Time, 24-hour (hh:mm:ss)
%U	Week (00..53), where Sunday is the first day of the week; WEEK() mode 0
%u	Week (00..53), where Monday is the first day of the week; WEEK() mode 1
%V	Week (01..53), where Sunday is the first day of the week; WEEK() mode 2; used with %X
%v	Week (01..53), where Monday is the first day of the week; WEEK() mode 3; used with %x
%W	Weekday name (Sunday..Saturday)
%w	Day of the week (0=Sunday..6=Saturday)
%X	Year for the week where Sunday is the first day of the week, numeric, four digits; used with %V
%x	Year for the week, where Monday is the first day of the week, numeric, four digits; used with %v
%Y	Year, numeric, four digits
%y	Year, numeric (two digits)
%%	A literal % character
%x	x, for any “x” not listed above