Question

I want to delete all data from a table that has a date prior to 01/01/2006

I am trying this:

delete from table_a 
where to_char(last_update_date,'MM/DD/YYYY') < to_char('01/01/2006', 'MM/DD/YYYY')

But this is not working.

What is the best way to compare date’s in sql?

Answer 1

Use the TO_DATE function to convert a string into an Oracle DATE (includes time):

DELETE FROM TABLE_A
 WHERE last_update_date < TO_DATE('01/01/2006', 'MM/DD/YYYY')

…to delete records with a last_update_date value of December 31, 2005 at 11:59:59.9999 or earlier.