FORMAT()

The FORMAT function returns a value formatted with the specified format and optional culture.

Signature

FORMAT( value , format [ , culture ] )

Parameters

  • value — Expression of a supported data type to format. For a list of valid types, see the table in the Remarks section.
  • format — nvarchar format pattern.
  • culture — Optional nvarchar argument specifying a culture.

Examples

SELECT FORMAT(1234.5678, 'N2') AS number, FORMAT(CAST('2026-03-08' AS date), 'yyyy-MM-dd') AS iso;
number                                                           iso
---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------
1,234.57                                                         2026-03-08

Run against SQL Server 16.0.4265.3 on 2026-09-13. This is the output we got, not the documentation’s.

Available on

  • SQL Server 2017 and later
  • Azure SQL Database
  • Azure Synapse Analytics
  • Microsoft Fabric warehouse
  • Fabric SQL database

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Signature and description adapted from the Microsoft SQL documentation, used under the CC BY 4.0. SQL Server and Azure are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. This page is not affiliated with Microsoft.