String to Date Conversion in SQL with (STR_TO_DATE)

STR_TO_DATE(str,format) is the inverse of the DATE_FORMAT() function.
STR_TO_DATE() returns a DATETIME value.

Ex:
mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('04/31/2004', '%m/%d/%Y');


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

| STR_TO_DATE('04/31/2004', '%m/%d/%Y') |
------------------------------------------------------------------
2004-04-31          

The following specifiers may be used in the format string.
The '%' character is required before format specifier characters.         

       


Specifier	Description
%a	Abbreviated weekday name (Sun..Sat)
%b	Abbreviated month name (Jan..Dec)
%c	Month, numeric (0..12)
%D	Day of the month with English suffix (0th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ?-)
%d	Day of the month, numeric (00..31)
%e	Day of the month, numeric (0..31)
%f	Microseconds (000000..999999)
%H	Hour (00..23)
%h	Hour (01..12)
%I	Hour (01..12)
%i	Minutes, numeric (00..59)
%j	Day of year (001..366)
%k	Hour (0..23)
%l	Hour (1..12)
%M	Month name (January..December)
%m	Month, numeric (00..12)
%p	AM or PM
%r	Time, 12-hour (hh:mm:ss followed by AM or PM)
%S	Seconds (00..59)
%s	Seconds (00..59)
%T	Time, 24-hour (hh:mm:ss)
%U	Week (00..53), where Sunday is the first day of the week
%u	Week (00..53), where Monday is the first day of the week
%V	Week (01..53), where Sunday is the first day of the week; used with %X
%v	Week (01..53), where Monday is the first day of the week; used with %x
%W	Weekday name (Sunday..Saturday)
%w	Day of the week (0=Sunday..6=Saturday)
%X	Year for the week where Sunday is the first day of the week, numeric, four digits; used with %V
%x	Year for the week, where Monday is the first day of the week, numeric, four digits; used with %v
%Y	Year, numeric, four digits
%y	Year, numeric (two digits)
%%	A literal '%' character
%x	x, for any 'x' not listed above