Question

I have a nvarchar(5) column of data that is formatted MMMDD (for example, OCT26). With my select statement, I’d like to convert it to a datetime data type with the current year, and then save that datetime value as an alias, say, UsefulDate. So something like 10-26-2012.

Something like: SELECT (whatever SQL gets the job done) AS UsefulDate

The exact formatting doesn’t matter; I just need to be able to compare two dates together with greater than and less than operators. Also, sometimes the column will be blank. In that case, I’d like to set the alias to blank as well. Is this possible?

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

You can convert varchar fields in format MMMDD to date with current year with :

select convert(datetime,'OCT26'+','+cast(year(getdate()) as varchar),107)

So your query would be something like :

select convert(datetime,case varcharDate when '' then null else varcharDate end +
               ','+cast(year(getdate()) as varchar),107) as UsefulDate 
from table