ORA-01810: format code appears twice

Question

Why is the sql below generating an ORA-01810 error? I researched the error and I am using different date formats for each date insert

INSERT INTO bag_grte_clm (     schd_dprt_ldt,     arr_trpn_stn_cd,     bkg_crtn_gdt,     sbmt_bag_grte_clm_dt,     bag_grte_clm_stt_cd,     lst_updt_gts,     bag_grte_clm_gts,     dprt_trpn_stn_cd ) VALUES (     TO_DATE('2015/12/06', 'yyyy/mm/dd'),     'YUL',     TO_DATE('2015-11-15', 'yyyy-mm-dd'),     TO_DATE('120615', 'MMDDYY'),     'DENIAL',     (current_timestamp),     TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss'),     'ATL' )  

Answer 1

TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss')

It is wrong in two ways:

1. Incorrect format code

You have repeated the MM format mask twice. MM is month and MI is minutes.

 SQL> SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss') FROM dual; SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss') FROM dual                                           * ERROR at line 1: ORA-01810: format code appears twice 

2. Incorrect time portion

00:00:00 is wrong as it would throw ORA-01849 since the hour cannot be zero, it must be between 1 and 12.

 SQL> SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mi:ss') FROM dual; SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mi:ss') FROM dual                      * ERROR at line 1: ORA-01849: hour must be between 1 and 12 

The correct way is to either use 24 hour format, or leave the time portion which would default to 12 AM.

For example,

24 hour format:

SQL> SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh24:mi:ss') my_tmstamp FROM dual;  MY_TMSTAMP --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 06-DEC-15 12.00.00.000000000 AM 

No time portion:

SQL> SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206', 'yyyymmdd') my_tmstamp FROM dual;  MY_TMSTAMP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 06-DEC-15 12.00.00.000000000 AM