Convert Varchar date format from yyyy-MM-dd to yyyyMMdd in SQL

Question

Hi I am trying to convert Varchar date format from yyyy-MM-dd to yyyyMMdd in SQL.I tried the below approaches but nothing is working.

Declare @doj VARCHAR(10)
Set @doj='2022-01-01'

Select convert (VARCHAR,@doj,112)
select format(@doj,'yyyyMMdd')

SQL engine is not converting to the required format.If I declared doj variable to date then it is working as expected.How to make it work if the doj is varchar?

Answer 1

You can just convert to datetime and back again using explicit style numbers:

Declare @doj VARCHAR(10) = '2022-01-01';
SELECT CONVERT(varchar(10), CONVERT(datetime, @doj, 126), 112);

db<>fiddle

Quite why you are storing dates in varchar in the first place is another question...