I want to update timestamp(3) column with respect to varchar2

Question

Hi all,
I have a date field column with varchar2 as datatype :
create table t1 (id number,date1 varchar2(35))
insert into (1,' 3/13/2011 10:22 AM');
insert into (2,' 3/14/2011 10:22 AM');
insert into (3,' 3/15/2011 10:22 AM');
I want to update table2
create table t1 (id number,date1 timestamp(3))
insert into (1,' ');
insert into (2,' ');
insert into (3,' ');I want to update t2 with date column in t1
can any one help me
Thanks in advance!!!!!

Answer 1

Hi,
846773 wrote:
Hi all,
I have a date field column with varchar2 as datatype : That's not a very good idea. You should always use a DATE or TIMESTAMP column for dates.
create table t1 (id number,date1 varchar2(35))
insert into (1,' 3/13/2011 10:22 AM');Thanks for posting the CREATE TABLE and INSERT statements; that's very helpful.
Test them and make sure they work before you post them. You forgot the table name (after the keyword INTO).
insert into (2,' 3/14/2011 10:22 AM');
insert into (3,' 3/15/2011 10:22 AM');
I want to update table2
create table t1 (id number,date1 timestamp(3))This is the same name you used for the other table. I'll assume you meant to say t2 here, not t1.
insert into (1,' ');Don't try to insert a string (such as ' ') into a TIMESTAMP column, You can INSERT a literal NULL, or simply not INSERT anything into that column.
insert into (2,' ');
insert into (3,' ');I want to update t2 with date column in t1Use TO_TIMESTAMP to convert the string into a TIMESTAMP:
MERGE INTO     t2     dst
USING  (
           SELECT  id
        ,        TO_TIMESTAMP ( date1
                          , 'MM/DD/YYYY HH:MI AM'
                   )      AS ts
        FROM    t1
       )          src
ON     (src.id     = dst.id)
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE
SET     dst.date1 = src.ts
;