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 , for any “x ” not listed above |