DATETIME and INTERVAL Values as Strings

You can enter DATETIME and INTERVAL data in the literal forms described in the Literal DATETIME and Literal INTERVAL, or you can enter them as quoted strings.

Valid literals that are entered as character strings are converted automatically into DATETIME or INTERVAL values.

INSERT INTO cust_calls(call_dtime) VALUES ('2007-5-4 10:12:11');
INSERT INTO manufact(lead_time) VALUES ('14');

The format of the value in the quoted string must exactly match the format specified by the INTERVAL or DATETIME qualifiers of the column. For the first INSERT in the preceding example, the call_dtime column must be defined with the qualifiers YEAR TO SECOND for the INSERT statement to be valid.