Re: How to get DATE in server locale format

On 11/01/2010 9:44 PM, A. Kretschmer wrote:
> In response to Andrus :
>> How to get localized date for single conversion inside SELECT statement so
>> that it works in different server lc_time settings ?
>
> As Tom said, you can use to_char():

It looks like the OP wants a localized date, just one different to that
specified by the datestyle GUC, for just one date-to-string conversion
within a function that may have others.

Essentially, I think they're after

SET datestyle = DMY;
SELECT date_with_style(somedate, 'MDY'), somedate::text;

... which doesn't exist.

Andrus: Is the date style you need for the one "different" call fixed?
Or does it vary?

If it's fixed, you *can* just use to_char with a constant format string.

If the format needed for the "different" call varies, you'll have to
either have your app send a suitable to_char format string, or you'll
need to write a function that accepts a Pg datestyle parameter and
internally calls to_char with the appropriate format depending on the
value of the passed datestyle.

There's no way to say:

    -- This does not work
    SELECT CAST(somedate AS text WITH DATESTYLE 'iso')

or the like.

--
Craig Ringer