Question: I have a date as a varchar in the form

```
DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM

```

e.g.

```
16/3/2012 4:39:26 PM

```

I can't see a valid format option for `CONVERT()` in the [MSDN page](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187928.aspx "MSDN page")

Am I missing something or will I have to reformat the varchar field first?

Edit:

Corrected the format, sorry about that

Answer: 
Once you get your story straight, you'll want one of these:

```
-- if you really meant dd/mm/yyyy then:

SELECT CONVERT(DATETIME, '16/3/2012 4:39:26 PM', 103);

-- if you really meant mm/dd/yyyy then:

SELECT CONVERT(DATETIME, '3/16/2012 4:39:26 PM', 101);

```

But agreed with Madhivanan. Don't store dates using the wrong data type, and if you must, use an unambiguous format!
This will work.

```
DECLARE @dt varchar(100)='2012/3/16 4:39:26 PM'
select convert(datetime,@dt,101)

```