Convert Month Number to Month Name Function in SQL

Question

I have months stored in SQL Server as 1,2,3,4,...12. I would like to display them as January,February etc. Is there a function in SQL Server like MonthName(1) = January? I a

Answer 1

There is no system defined function in SQL server. But you can create your own user-defined function- a scalar function. You would find scalar functions in the Object Explorer for your database: Programmability->Functions->Scalar-valued Functions. Below, I use a table variable to bring it all together.

--Create the user-defined function
CREATE FUNCTION getmonth (@num int)
RETURNS varchar(9) --since 'September' is the longest string, length 9
AS
BEGIN

DECLARE @intMonth Table (num int PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY(1,1), month varchar(9))

INSERT INTO @intMonth VALUES ('January'), ('February'), ('March'), ('April'), ('May')
                           , ('June'), ('July'), ('August') ,('September'), ('October')
                           , ('November'), ('December')

RETURN (SELECT I.month
        FROM @intMonth I
        WHERE I.num = @num)
END
GO

--Use the function for various months
SELECT dbo.getmonth(4) AS [Month]
SELECT dbo.getmonth(5) AS [Month]
SELECT dbo.getmonth(6) AS [Month]