Posted by David Portas on 12/28/05 12:23

newtophp2000@yahoo.com wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I receive a file containing some character fields along with a date.
> The date values in the file are formatted as "dd/mm/yy", that is
> 2-digit day, 2-digit month, and 2-digit year. The separator could be
> slash or a dash ("-"). The file is in a proprietary format, and bcp is
> not an option.
>
> So, I decided to load the file using a prepared statement. I open a
> cursor with an INSERT statement, read from the file, parse out values,
> and put it in the database using the cursor. All is OK; except that
> the date values are mangled. This is despite the fact that I am issuing
> a "set dateformat dmy" before running the INSERT statement.
>
> It seems that the "set dateformat dmy" is not being accepted, or it is
> being ignored. I set it at the beginning right after opening a
> connection to the database. From what I understand, it should work.
> Am I doing something wrong? Any suggestions on how to get this to
> work?
>
> Thanks!

You say BCP isn't an option but you didn't explain what other method
you are using to read the file or why a cursor is necessary. Don't rely
on SET DATEFORMAT. Use the CONVERT function with the style parameter to
specify the exact format. Looks like style 3 or 103 is what you need.

--
David Portas
SQL Server MVP
--

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