How to format datetime in SQL SERVER

datetime, sql-server, sql-server-2012

Solution

In SQL Server 2012 and up you can use `FORMAT()`:

SELECT FORMAT(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, 'yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss tt')

In prior versions, you might need to concatenate two or more different datetime conversions to get what you need, for example:

SELECT 
    CONVERT(CHAR(10), CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, 23) + ' ' + 
    RIGHT('0' + LTRIM(RIGHT(CONVERT(CHAR(20), CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, 22), 11)), 11);

See the Date and Time Styles section of CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL) for all of the built-in formatting styles.

I would keep in mind that unless you have a good reason for it, I mean a really good reason, formatting is usually a better job for the technology displaying the data.

Problem

I am trying to port MySQL function `DATE_FORMAT(date,'%y-%m-%d %h:%i:%s %p')` to MsSQL equivalent by using `CONVERT()`. How to format equivalent datetime string in SQL SERVER 2012 to give this output `'2014-05-24 01:24:37 AM'`?

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