FORMAT (Transact-SQL)

**APPLIES TO:** SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse

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Returns a value formatted with the specified format and optional culture in SQL Server 2017 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 following 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 is not 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. A good starting point is the topic, “Formatting Types.”

culture
Optional nvarchar argument specifying a culture.

If the culture argument is not 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 is not limited to the languages explicitly supported by SQL Server If the culture argument is not 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 is not valid. For example, NULL is returned if the value specified in format is not valid.

The FORMAT function is nondeterministic.

FORMAT relies on the presence of the .NET Framework Common Language Runtime (CLR).

This function cannot 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.

Examples

A. Simple FORMAT example

The following example returns a simple date formatted for different cultures.

DECLARE @d DATETIME = '10/01/2011';  
SELECT FORMAT ( @d, 'd', 'en-US' ) AS 'US English Result'  
      ,FORMAT ( @d, 'd', 'en-gb' ) AS 'Great Britain English Result'  
      ,FORMAT ( @d, 'd', 'de-de' ) AS 'German Result'  
      ,FORMAT ( @d, 'd', 'zh-cn' ) AS 'Simplified Chinese (PRC) Result';   
  
SELECT FORMAT ( @d, 'D', 'en-US' ) AS 'US English Result'  
      ,FORMAT ( @d, 'D', 'en-gb' ) AS 'Great Britain English Result'  
      ,FORMAT ( @d, 'D', 'de-de' ) AS 'German Result'  
      ,FORMAT ( @d, 'D', 'zh-cn' ) AS 'Chinese (Simplified PRC) Result';  

Here is the result set.

US English Result Great Britain English Result  German Result Simplified Chinese (PRC) Result  
----------------  ----------------------------- ------------- -------------------------------------  
10/1/2011         01/10/2011                    01.10.2011    2011/10/1  
  
(1 row(s) affected)  
  
US English Result            Great Britain English Result  German Result                    Chinese (Simplified PRC) Result  
---------------------------- ----------------------------- -----------------------------  ---------------------------------------  
Saturday, October 01, 2011   01 October 2011               Samstag, 1. Oktober 2011        2011年10月1日  
  
(1 row(s) affected)  

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 September 27, 2012. For more information about these and other custom formats, see Custom Numeric Format Strings.

DECLARE @d DATETIME = GETDATE();  
SELECT FORMAT( @d, 'dd/MM/yyyy', 'en-US' ) AS 'DateTime Result'  
       ,FORMAT(123456789,'###-##-####') AS 'Custom Number Result';  

Here is the result set.

DateTime Result  Custom Number Result  
--------------   --------------------  
27/09/2012       123-45-6789  
  
(1 row(s) affected)  

C. FORMAT with numeric types

The following example returns 5 rows from the Sales.CurrencyRate table in the AdventureWorks2012 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 'Number 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  
  
(5 row(s) affected)  
  

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 €  
  
 (5 row(s) affected)  

D. FORMAT with time data types

FORMAT returns NULL in these cases because . and : are not 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  

See Also

CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL)
STR (Transact-SQL)
String Functions (Transact-SQL)