Sql Server string to date conversion

Question

I want to convert a string like this:

\'10/15/2008 10:06:32 PM\'

into the equivalent DATETIME value in Sql Server.

In Oracle, I wou

Answer 1

If you want SQL Server to try and figure it out, just use CAST CAST('whatever' AS datetime) However that is a bad idea in general. There are issues with international dates that would come up. So as you've found, to avoid those issues, you want to use the ODBC canonical format of the date. That is format number 120, 20 is the format for just two digit years. I don't think SQL Server has a built-in function that allows you to provide a user given format. You can write your own and might even find one if you search online.