NLS_DATE_FORMAT

Property	Description
Parameter type	String
Syntax	`NLS_DATE_FORMAT = "format"`
Default value	Derived from `NLS_TERRITORY`
Modifiable	`ALTER SESSION`
Range of values	Any valid date format mask but not exceeding a fixed length
Basic	No

NLS_DATE_FORMAT specifies the default date format to use with the TO_CHAR and TO_DATE functions. The default value of this parameter is determined by NLS_TERRITORY.

The value of this parameter can be any valid date format mask, and the value must be surrounded by double quotation marks. For example:

NLS_DATE_FORMAT = "MM/DD/YYYY"

Note:

The value of this initialization parameter NLS_DATE_FORMAT is used to initialize the session value of this parameter, which is the actual value referenced by the SQL query processing. This initial value is overridden by a client-side value if the client uses the Oracle JDBC driver or if the client is OCI-based and the NLS_LANG client setting (environment variable) is defined. The initialization parameter value is, therefore, usually ignored.