Philippe, > Is there a way to force the date conversion to fail sliently, and simply > return a null in case the parameter is not a valid date?
You'd need to write a custom function, using an external language that allows you to test for valid date values. I prefer using PL/perlU with Date::Manip, but use what you like. -- Josh Berkus Aglio Database Solutions San Francisco ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 7: don't forget to increase your free space map settings