TO_YMINTERVAL

Syntax

Description of the illustration to_yminterval.gif

ym_iso_format::=

Description of the illustration ym_iso_format.gif

Purpose

TO_YMINTERVAL converts a character string of CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, or NVARCHAR2 data type to an INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH type.

TO_YMINTERVAL accepts argument in one of the two formats:

• SQL interval format compatible with the SQL standard (ISO/IEC 9075:2003)

• ISO duration format compatible with the ISO 8601:2004 standard

In the SQL format, years is an integer between 0 and 999999999, and months is an integer between 0 and 11. Additional blanks are allowed between format elements.

In the ISO format, years and months are integers between 0 and 999999999. Days, hours, minutes, seconds, and frac_secs are non-negative integers, and are ignored, if specified. No blanks are allowed in the value. If you specify T, then you must specify at least one of the hours, minutes, or seconds values.

Examples

The following example calculates for each employee in the sample hr.employees table a date one year two months after the hire date:

SELECT hire_date, hire_date + TO_YMINTERVAL('01-02') "14 months"
   FROM employees;

HIRE_DATE 14 months
--------- ---------
17-JUN-03 17-AUG-04
21-SEP-05 21-NOV-06
13-JAN-01 13-MAR-02
20-MAY-08 20-JUL-09
21-MAY-07 21-JUL-08

. . .

The following example makes the same calculation using the ISO format:

SELECT hire_date, hire_date + TO_YMINTERVAL('P1Y2M') FROM employees;