FORMAT (Transact-SQL)
Applies to:
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
Returns a value formatted with the specified format and optional culture. Use the FORMAT
function for locale-aware formatting of date/time and number values as strings. For general data type conversions, use CAST
or CONVERT
.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
FORMAT( value , format [ , culture ] )
Arguments
value
Expression of a supported data type to format. For a list of valid types, see the table in the Remarks section.
format
nvarchar format pattern.
The format argument must contain a valid .NET Framework format string, either as a standard format string (for example, "C"
or "D"
), or as a pattern of custom characters for dates and numeric values (for example, "MMMM DD, yyyy (dddd)"
). Composite formatting isn't supported.
For a full explanation of these formatting patterns, consult the .NET Framework documentation on string formatting in general, custom date and time formats, and custom number formats. For more information, see Formatting Types.
culture
Optional nvarchar argument specifying a culture.
If the culture argument isn't provided, the language of the current session is used. This language is set either implicitly, or explicitly by using the SET LANGUAGE
statement. culture accepts any culture supported by the .NET Framework as an argument; it isn't limited to the languages explicitly supported by SQL Server. If the culture argument isn't valid, FORMAT
raises an error.
Return types
nvarchar or null
The length of the return value is determined by the format.
Remarks
FORMAT
returns NULL
for errors other than a culture that isn't valid. For example, NULL
is returned if the value specified in format isn't valid.
The FORMAT
function is nondeterministic.
FORMAT
relies on the presence of the .NET Framework Common Language Runtime (CLR).
This function can't be remoted since it depends on the presence of the CLR. Remoting a function that requires the CLR, could cause an error on the remote server.
FORMAT
relies upon CLR formatting rules, which dictate that colons and periods must be escaped. Therefore, when the format string (second parameter) contains a colon or period, the colon, or period must be escaped with backslash when an input value (first parameter) is of the time data type. See D. FORMAT with time data types.
The following table lists the acceptable data types for the value argument together with their .NET Framework mapping equivalent types.
Category | Type | .NET type |
---|---|---|
Numeric | bigint | Int64 |
Numeric | int | Int32 |
Numeric | smallint | Int16 |
Numeric | tinyint | Byte |
Numeric | decimal | SqlDecimal |
Numeric | numeric | SqlDecimal |
Numeric | float | Double |
Numeric | real | Single |
Numeric | smallmoney | Decimal |
Numeric | money | Decimal |
Date and Time | date | DateTime |
Date and Time | time | TimeSpan |
Date and Time | datetime | DateTime |
Date and Time | smalldatetime | DateTime |
Date and Time | datetime2 | DateTime |
Date and Time | datetimeoffset | DateTimeOffset |
Examples
A. Simple FORMAT example
The following example returns a simple date formatted for different cultures.
DECLARE @d DATE = '11/22/2020';
SELECT FORMAT(@d, 'd', 'en-US') 'US English',
FORMAT(@d, 'd', 'en-gb') 'British English',
FORMAT(@d, 'd', 'de-de') 'German',
FORMAT(@d, 'd', 'zh-cn') 'Chinese Simplified (PRC)';
SELECT FORMAT(@d, 'D', 'en-US') 'US English',
FORMAT(@d, 'D', 'en-gb') 'British English',
FORMAT(@d, 'D', 'de-de') 'German',
FORMAT(@d, 'D', 'zh-cn') 'Chinese Simplified (PRC)';
Here is the result set.
US English British English German Simplified Chinese (PRC)
----------- ---------------- ----------- -------------------------
8/9/2024 09/08/2024 09.08.2024 2024/8/9
US English British English German Chinese (Simplified PRC)
----------------------- ---------------- ------------------------ -------------------------
Friday, August 9, 2024 09 August 2024 Freitag, 9. August 2024 2024年8月9日
B. FORMAT with custom formatting strings
The following example shows formatting numeric values by specifying a custom format. The example assumes that the current date is August 9, 2024. For more information about these and other custom formats, see Custom Numeric Format Strings.
DECLARE @d DATE = GETDATE();
SELECT FORMAT(@d, 'dd/MM/yyyy', 'en-US') AS 'Date',
FORMAT(123456789, '###-##-####') AS 'Custom Number';
Here is the result set.
Date Custom Number
----------- --------------
09/08/2024 123-45-6789
C. FORMAT with numeric types
The following example returns five rows from the Sales.CurrencyRate
table in the AdventureWorks2022
database. The column EndOfDateRate
is stored as type money in the table. In this example, the column is returned unformatted and then formatted by specifying the .NET Number format, General format, and Currency format types. For more information about these and other numeric formats, see Standard Numeric Format Strings.
SELECT TOP (5) CurrencyRateID,
EndOfDayRate,
FORMAT(EndOfDayRate, 'N', 'en-us') AS 'Numeric Format',
FORMAT(EndOfDayRate, 'G', 'en-us') AS 'General Format',
FORMAT(EndOfDayRate, 'C', 'en-us') AS 'Currency Format'
FROM Sales.CurrencyRate
ORDER BY CurrencyRateID;
Here is the result set.
CurrencyRateID EndOfDayRate Numeric Format General Format Currency Format
-------------- ------------ -------------- -------------- ---------------
1 1.0002 1.00 1.0002 $1.00
2 1.55 1.55 1.5500 $1.55
3 1.9419 1.94 1.9419 $1.94
4 1.4683 1.47 1.4683 $1.47
5 8.2784 8.28 8.2784 $8.28
This example specifies the German culture (de-de
).
SELECT TOP (5) CurrencyRateID,
EndOfDayRate,
FORMAT(EndOfDayRate, 'N', 'de-de') AS 'Numeric Format',
FORMAT(EndOfDayRate, 'G', 'de-de') AS 'General Format',
FORMAT(EndOfDayRate, 'C', 'de-de') AS 'Currency Format'
FROM Sales.CurrencyRate
ORDER BY CurrencyRateID;
CurrencyRateID EndOfDayRate Numeric Format General Format Currency Format
-------------- ------------ -------------- -------------- ---------------
1 1.0002 1,00 1,0002 1,00 €
2 1.55 1,55 1,5500 1,55 €
3 1.9419 1,94 1,9419 1,94 €
4 1.4683 1,47 1,4683 1,47 €
5 8.2784 8,28 8,2784 8,28 €
D. FORMAT with time data types
FORMAT
returns NULL
in these cases because .
and :
aren't escaped.
SELECT FORMAT(cast('07:35' AS TIME), N'hh.mm'); --> returns NULL
SELECT FORMAT(cast('07:35' AS TIME), N'hh:mm'); --> returns NULL
Format returns a formatted string because the .
and :
are escaped.
SELECT FORMAT(cast('07:35' AS TIME), N'hh\.mm'); --> returns 07.35
SELECT FORMAT(cast('07:35' AS TIME), N'hh\:mm'); --> returns 07:35
Format returns a formatted current time with AM or PM specified.
SELECT FORMAT(SYSDATETIME(), N'hh:mm tt'); --> returns 03:46 PM
SELECT FORMAT(SYSDATETIME(), N'hh:mm t'); --> returns 03:46 P
Format returns the specified time, displaying AM.
select FORMAT(CAST('2018-01-01 01:00' AS DATETIME2), N'hh:mm tt'); --> returns 01:00 AM
select FORMAT(CAST('2018-01-01 01:00' AS DATETIME2), N'hh:mm t'); --> returns 01:00 A
Format returns the specified time, displaying PM.
select FORMAT(CAST('2018-01-01 14:00' AS DATETIME2), N'hh:mm tt'); --> returns 02:00 PM
select FORMAT(CAST('2018-01-01 14:00' AS DATETIME2), N'hh:mm t'); --> returns 02:00 P
Format returns the specified time in 24-hour format.
select FORMAT(CAST('2018-01-01 14:00' AS DATETIME2), N'HH:mm'); --> returns 14:00