SQL & PL/SQL

Hi all,

In a pl/sql query I have got this error ORA-1861: literal does not match format string.

The line that I am getting this error is the following:

ELSIF r.activity_date_query <> r.activity_date_response

At this line r is the current record of a cursor. activity_date_query(of type date) and activity_date_response(of type varchar2) are two different columns in the cursor.

As far as I know I should get this error if I convert a string to a date with a wrong format string, for example

SELECT to_date('20041308','yyyy/mm/dd')
FROM dual;

produces this error.

Shouldn't I get some other error like type missmatch? Why is the error type literal does not match format string? Can somebody help?

Thanks in advance,
suleyman