MySQL - DATE_FORMAT() function example

In this article, we would like to show you DATE_FORMAT() function example in MySQL.

Quick solution

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SELECT DATE_FORMAT('2021-01-15', "%e %M %Y");

Where:

• %e - day of the month as a numeric value (0 to 31),
• %M - full month name,
• %Y - year as a numeric, 4-digit value.

Note:

Go to the official documentation to find more date format specifiers such as %e, %M and %Y.

In this example, we will convert example date to the day month year format.

Query:

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SELECT DATE_FORMAT('2021-02-01', "%e %M %Y") AS 'formatted_date';

Result:

You can also specify the separator such as "-" or "/" between day, month and year.

Query:

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SELECT DATE_FORMAT('2021-02-01', "%e-%M-%Y") AS 'formatted_date';

Result:

To show how to convert date to a string, we will use the following table:

Note:

At the end of this article you can find database preparation SQL queries.

In this example, we will display the registration_time column as string in the day month year format.

Query:

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SELECT 

    `id`, `username`,

    DATE_FORMAT(`registration_time`, "%e %M %Y") AS 'registration_date'

FROM `users`;

Result:

In this example, we will display the registration_time column as string in the day month year hour:minute AM/PM format.

Query:

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SELECT 

    `id`, `username`,

    DATE_FORMAT(`registration_time`, "%e %M %Y %h:%i %p") AS 'registration_date'

FROM `users`;

Result:

Where:

• %h - hour (01 - 12),
• : - separator between hours and minutes,
• %i - minutes (00 - 59),
• %p - AM or PM.

Note:

Go to the official documentation to find more date format specifiers such as %h, %i and %p.

create_tables.sql file:

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CREATE TABLE `users` (

    `id` INT(10) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,

    `username` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,

    `registration_time` DATETIME NOT NULL,

    PRIMARY KEY (`id`)

);

insert_data.sql file:

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INSERT INTO `users`

    (`username`, `registration_time`)

VALUES

    ('Tom', '2021-01-01 11:41:31'),

    ('Chris','2021-01-02 11:42:45'),

    ('Jack','2021-01-03 15:13:39'),

    ('Kim','2021-01-03 15:24:51'),

    ('Marco','2021-01-04 22:35:38'),

    ('Kate','2021-01-04 22:46:51'),

    ('Nam','2021-01-04 22:57:37');