SQL Changes: Add new date and time format elements (Pending)¶

When this behavior change bundle is enabled, new short-form date and time format elements are enabled, which affects datetime formatting and parsing logic.

Before the change:

The following format elements were parsed and serialized as literal characters in datetime-to-string or string-to-datetime conversion: Y, MO, D, H24, H12, H, ME, S, P.

After the change:

The following new format elements are now interpreted by the parsing and formatting logic:

• Y for “year” (non-padded)

• MO for “month” (non-padded)

• D for “day” (non-padded)

• H24 for “24-hour based hour of the day” (non-padded)

• H12 for “12-hour based hour of the day” (non-padded)

• H as a synonym for H24

• ME for “minute” (non-padded)

• S for “second” (non-padded)

• P for “single letter AM/PM indicator” (A for AM or P for PM)

Any unquoted usage of these characters or sequences will be interpreted as a format element instead of a literal.

This behavior change may constitute a breaking change for users who have used these new format elements as unquoted characters in their format models for DATE, TIME, TIMESTAMP_LTZ, TIMESTAMP_NTZ, or TIMESTAMP_TZ.

For example:

• Previously, SELECT TO_CHAR(current_timestamp(), 'YYYY-MM-DD JST') would output the sequence “JST” as literal characters, for example 2026-03-18 JST.

• Now, the S in JST will be interpreted as a “second” format element, and the formatting logic will insert a numerical value: 2026-03-18 J47T.

-- Before (incorrect after this change):
SELECT TO_CHAR(current_timestamp(), 'YYYY-MM-DD JST');

-- After (corrected):
SELECT TO_CHAR(current_timestamp(), 'YYYY-MM-DD "JST"');