to_date(‘2003/07/09’, ‘yyyy/mm/dd’) would return a date value of July 9, 2003.
to_date(‘070903’, ‘MMDDYY’) would return a date value of July 9, 2003.
to_date(‘20020315’, ‘yyyymmdd’) would return a date value of Mar 15, 2002.
See `http://www.techonthenet.com/oracle/functions/to_date.php