MySQL - DATE_FORMAT() function example

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

Quick solution

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.

Practical examples

Example 1 - Convert one date

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

Query:

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:

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

Result:

Example 2 - Convert dates in column

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:

SELECT 
    `id`, `username`,
    DATE_FORMAT(`registration_time`, "%e %M %Y") AS 'registration_date'
FROM `users`;

Result:

Example 3 - Convert dates and time

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

Query:

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.

Database preparation

create_tables.sql file:

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:

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');