Converting Datetime Values to Varchar

Back when I used to code in Foxpro, I had to write custom code to convert date/time values to various formats. T-SQL provides for a great number of formats using the CONVERT function. An article on MSSQLTips lists many (but not all) of these formats. This code (which can easily be wrapped into a stored procedure), will list out all valid format codes and an example of how they will appear:


SET NOCOUNT ON
CREATE TABLE #Fmts (FmtNo tinyint, Example varchar(max))
DECLARE @fmt int; SET @fmt = 0
DECLARE @dt datetime; SET @dt = GETDATE()
WHILE @fmt < 132
BEGIN
BEGIN TRY
INSERT INTO #Fmts (FmtNo, Example)
VALUES (@fmt, CONVERT(varchar, @dt, @fmt))
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
PRINT '@fmt = ' + LTRIM(STR(@fmt)) + ' is not valid.'
END CATCH
SET @fmt = @fmt + 1
END
SELECT FmtNo, Example = LEFT(Example, 30) FROM #Fmts
DROP TABLE #Fmts
SET NOCOUNT OFF

And sample output: