Amazon Redshift will no longer support the use of Python UDFs after June 30, 2026. We will start enforcing it in phases. For more information on the details of Python end of life and migration options, see the [ blog post ](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/amazon-redshift-python-user-defined-functions-will-reach-end-of-support-after-june-30-2026/) that was published on June 30, 2025. 

# TO\_TIMESTAMP function
<a name="r_TO_TIMESTAMP"></a>

TO\_TIMESTAMP converts a TIMESTAMP string to TIMESTAMPTZ. For a list of additional date and time functions for Amazon Redshift, see [Date and time functions](Date_functions_header.md).

## Syntax
<a name="r_TO_TIMESTAMP-syntax"></a>

```
to_timestamp(timestamp, format)
```

```
to_timestamp (timestamp, format, is_strict)
```

## Arguments
<a name="r_TO_TIMESTAMP-arguments"></a>

*timestamp*  
A string that represents a timestamp value in the format specified by *format*. If this argument is left as empty, the timestamp value defaults to `0001-01-01 00:00:00`.

*format*  
A string literal that defines the format of the *timestamp* value. Formats that include a time zone (**TZ**, **tz**, or **OF**) are not supported as input. For valid timestamp formats, see [Datetime format strings](r_FORMAT_strings.md).

*is\_strict*  
An optional Boolean value that specifies whether an error is returned if an input timestamp value is out of range. When *is\_strict* is set to TRUE, an error is returned if there is an out of range value. When *is\_strict* is set to FALSE, which is the default, then overflow values are accepted.

## Return type
<a name="r_TO_TIMESTAMP-return-type"></a>

TIMESTAMPTZ

## Examples
<a name="r_TO_TIMESTAMP-examples"></a>

The following example demonstrates using the TO\_TIMESTAMP function to convert a TIMESTAMP string to a TIMESTAMPTZ. 

```
select sysdate, to_timestamp(sysdate, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS') as second;

timestamp                  | second
--------------------------   ----------------------
2021-04-05 19:27:53.281812 | 2021-04-05 19:27:53+00
```

It's possible to pass TO\_TIMESTAMP part of a date. The remaining date parts are set to default values. The time is included in the output:

```
SELECT TO_TIMESTAMP('2017','YYYY');

to_timestamp
--------------------------
2017-01-01 00:00:00+00
```

The following SQL statement converts the string '2011-12-18 24:38:15' to a TIMESTAMPTZ. The result is a TIMESTAMPTZ that falls on the next day because the number of hours is more than 24 hours:

```
SELECT TO_TIMESTAMP('2011-12-18 24:38:15', 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS');
         
to_timestamp
----------------------
2011-12-19 00:38:15+00
```

The following SQL statement converts the string '2011-12-18 24:38:15' to a TIMESTAMPTZ. The result is an error because the time value in the timestamp is more than 24 hours:

```
SELECT TO_TIMESTAMP('2011-12-18 24:38:15', 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS', TRUE);
         
ERROR:  date/time field time value out of range: 24:38:15.0
```