On Wed, 4 Jun 2008, Ralph Smith wrote: > -- ========================================== > good_date := to_date(year||'-'||month||'-'||day , 'YYYY-MM-DD') ; > > RAISE INFO 'good_date = %', good_date ; > > UsecsD := EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM DATE 'good_date') ; You want something like: UsecsD := EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM good_date); Note the lack of single quotes. You want to use the variable's value, not a literal string with the value 'good_date'.