Use to_char to format date
SQL> SQL> SQL> SQL> create table emp( 2 emp_no integer primary key, 3 lastname varchar2(20) not null, 4 firstname varchar2(15) not null, 5 midinit varchar2(1), 6 street varchar2(30), 7 city varchar2(20), 8 state varchar2(2), 9 zip varchar2(5), 10 shortZipCode varchar2(4), 11 area_code varchar2(3), 12 phone varchar2(8), 13 salary number(5,2), 14 birthdate date, 15 startDate date, 16 title varchar2(20), 17 dept_no integer , 18 mgr integer, 19 region number, 20 division number, 21 total_sales number 22 ); Table created. SQL> -- emp Table Inserts: SQL> insert into emp(emp_no, lastname, firstname, midinit, street, city, state, zip,shortZipCode, area_code, phone, birthdate, title)values 2 (1,'Z','Joy','R','1 Ave','New York','NY','12122','2333','212','200-1111','12-nov-1976','President'); 1 row created. SQL> insert into emp(emp_no, lastname, firstname, midinit, street, city, state, zip,shortZipCode, area_code, phone, salary, birthdate, startDate,title, dept_no, mgr, region, division, total_sales)valu es 2 (2,'X','Lucy','J','1 Street','New York','NY','43552','6633','212','234-4444',7.75,'21-mar-1976','1-feb-1994','Sales Manager',2,1,100,10,40000); 1 row created. SQL> insert into emp(emp_no, lastname, firstname, midinit, street, city, state, zip,shortZipCode, area_code, phone, salary, birthdate, startDate,title, dept_no, mgr, region, division, total_sales)valu es 2 (3,'Y','Jordan','E','1 Drive','New York','NY','76822','8763','212','222-2222',7.75,'14-feb-1963','15-mar-1995','Sales Clerk',2,2,100,10,10000); 1 row created. SQL> SQL> SELECT to_char(startDate, 'mm/dd/yyyy' ) from emp; TO_CHAR(ST ---------- 02/01/1994 03/15/1995 SQL> SQL> drop table emp; Table dropped.