Formatting Functions

9.8. Data Type Formatting Functions

The PostgreSQL formatting functions provide a powerful set of tools for converting various data types (date/time, integer, floating point, numeric) to formatted strings and for converting from formatted strings to specific data types. Table 9-21 lists them. These functions all follow a common calling convention: the first argument is the value to be formatted and the second argument is a template that defines the output or input format.

A single-argument to_timestamp function is also available; it accepts a double precision argument and converts from Unix epoch (seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00+00) to timestamp with time zone. (Integer Unix epochs are implicitly ca