Date string issue

Question

HI All,
I have a basic query
SELECT grn_d 
                FROM GRN WHERE ROWNUM < 2The output of the above query is "5/15/1991 12:00:00 AM"
But when i am running the following block
DECLARE
grn_d_1 DATE;
BEGIN
SELECT grn_d INTO grn_d_1
FROM GRN WHERE ROWNUM < 2;
dbms_output.put_line(grn_d_1);
END;
The output is in 15-MAY-91 this format , how to get the result in the same format i.e. MM/DD/YYYY.

Answer 1

This might help you to understand. Check my comments and run it.
DECLARE
  v_d1 DATE;
  v_d2 DATE;
  v_d3 DATE;
  v_cha VARCHAR2(20000);
-- v_vha VARCHAR2(20000); -- commented due to duplicate variable intialisation
str VARCHAR2(20000); -- Added new
BEGIN
  v_d1:= to_date('01-JUN-15','DD-MON-YY');
  v_d2 :=to_date('15-FEB-14','DD-MON-YY');
  v_cha := 'SELECT least(:1, :2)  FROM DUAL';
  --v_vha := ''''||v_d1||''','''||v_d2||'''';
  --EXECUTE IMMEDIATE v_cha INTO v_d3 USING v_vha; -- cant declare like this after USING clause a comma separated string variable
  EXECUTE IMMEDIATE v_cha INTO v_d3 USING v_d1,v_d2;
  dbms_output.PUT_LINE('v_d3 - 1 '||to_char(v_d3, 'dd-MON-yyyy'));
  dbms_output.PUT_LINE('v_d3 - 2 '||to_char(v_d3,'MM/DD/YYYY'));
  dbms_output.PUT_LINE('v_d3 - 3 '||v_d3);
  dbms_output.PUT_LINE('--------------------------------');
  dbms_output.PUT_LINE('-- If you not sure about no of bind variables then dont use USING clause, make it a one string to be executed dynamically --');
  str := 'SELECT least(to_date('''||v_d1||'''),to_date('''||v_d2||'''))  FROM DUAL'; -- Due to implicit conversion, here you have use to_date while preparing a stmt
  EXECUTE IMMEDIATE str INTO v_d3;  -- while executing dynamically it'll consider date as date not string due to to_date function
  dbms_output.PUT_LINE('v_d3 - 1 '||to_char(v_d3, 'dd-MON-yyyy'));
  dbms_output.PUT_LINE('v_d3 - 2 '||to_char(v_d3,'MM/DD/YYYY'));
  dbms_output.PUT_LINE('v_d3 - 3 '||v_d3);
END;
OP :-
v_d3 - 1 15-FEB-2014
v_d3 - 2 02/15/2014
v_d3 - 3 15-FEB-14
-- If you are not sure about no of bind variables then dont use USING clause, make
it a one string to be executed dynamically --
v_d3 - 1 15-FEB-2014
v_d3 - 2 02/15/2014
v_d3 - 3 15-FEB-14
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.Thanks!