How to convert a "dd/mm/yyyy" string to datetime in SQL Server?

Question

I tried this

SELECT convert(datetime, '23/07/2009', 111)

but got this error

The conversion of a varchar data type to a datetime data type resulted in an out-of-range value.

However

SELECT convert(datetime, '07/23/2009', 111)

is OK though

How to fix the 1st one ?

Solution 1

The last argument of CONVERT seems to determine the format used for parsing. Consult MSDN docs for CONVERT.

111 - the one you are using is Japan yy/mm/dd.

I guess the one you are looking for is 103, that is dd/mm/yyyy.

So you should try:

 SELECT convert(datetime, '23/07/2009', 103)

Solution 2

Try:

SELECT convert(datetime, '23/07/2009', 103)

this is British/French standard.

Solution 3

SELECT COALESCE(TRY_CONVERT(datetime, Value, 111), 
    TRY_CONVERT(datetime, Value, 103), DATEADD(year,-1,GetDate()))

You could add additional date formats as the Coalesce will go through each until it returns a successful Try_Convert