change data type to date

kherboon · July 28th, 2003, 10:54 PM

can anyone teach me how to change the data type of a text field to a date/time field using SQL commands? i have thousands of records and i don't want to delete them..

kherboon · July 29th, 2003, 09:52 PM

Can anyone teach me? i have this microsoft access file with its date column changed to the datatype as text. i need to change it back without deleting any records.

Steven · July 29th, 2003, 10:33 PM

Fairly simple thing:

Code:

ALTER TABLE TableName ALTER FieldName Date;

Another way to do it is to copy and paste the table, but copy the structure only, then change the fieldtype of the field in the new table, then make an append query.

Yet another way you can do it, is just go into the design view of the table and change it to Date straight away. This way does have its issues though - it seems to take forever, and if you have heaps of records, it will take longer than forever, assuming it doesn't crash your system.

Steven

I am a loud man with a very large hat. This means I am in charge