On Tue, Feb 08, 2005 at 12:28:26PM +0000, mike wrote: > I am am trying to get a day string from a date using to_char ie: > > SELECT date1,ti1 ,to1,ti2,to2,adj,ei,eo,to_char('2005-02-07','Day') FROM > vw_times_list1 > > however I get > > function to_char("unknown", "unknown") is not unique > > (using to_date does not recognise the date format) > > anyone any ideas what I am doing wrong > Yes, in a way. to_char needs two parameters, a pattern and a variable to format according to the pattern. You've given it a pattern it doesn't recognise and a constant string which doesn't look like a date. It needs to look something like:- to_char(date_time, 'RRRRMMDDHH24MISS') This is an Oracle example so I'm not sure if the pattern is exactly right but it'll look something like this. Look at the documentation for to_char() for the format of the pattern. date_time is a date column in your database. -- Chris Green (chris@xxxxxxxxxxx) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence." ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: subscribe and unsubscribe commands go to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx