ORA-01810: format code appears twice

Question

Why is the sql below generating an ORA-01810 error? I researched the error and I am using different date formats for each date insert

INSERT INTO bag_grte_clm
(
    schd_dprt_ldt,
    arr_trpn_stn_cd,
    bkg_crtn_gdt,
    sbmt_bag_grte_clm_dt,
    bag_grte_clm_stt_cd,
    lst_updt_gts,
    bag_grte_clm_gts,
    dprt_trpn_stn_cd
)
VALUES (
    TO_DATE('2015/12/06', 'yyyy/mm/dd'),
    'YUL',
    TO_DATE('2015-11-15', 'yyyy-mm-dd'),
    TO_DATE('120615', 'MMDDYY'),
    'DENIAL',
    (current_timestamp),
    TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss'),
    'ATL'
) 

Answer 1

TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss')

It is wrong in two ways:

1. Incorrect format code

You have repeated the MM format mask twice. MM is month and MI is minutes.

SQL> SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss') FROM dual;
SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mm:ss') FROM dual
                                          *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01810: format code appears twice

2. Incorrect time portion

00:00:00 is wrong as it would throw ORA-01849 since the hour cannot be zero, it must be between 1 and 12.

SQL> SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mi:ss') FROM dual;
SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh:mi:ss') FROM dual
                     *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01849: hour must be between 1 and 12

The correct way is to either use 24 hour format, or leave the time portion which would default to 12 AM.

For example,

24 hour format:

SQL> SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206 00:00:00', 'yyyymmdd hh24:mi:ss') my_tmstamp FROM dual;

MY_TMSTAMP
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
06-DEC-15 12.00.00.000000000 AM

No time portion:

SQL> SELECT  TO_TIMESTAMP('20151206', 'yyyymmdd') my_tmstamp FROM dual;

MY_TMSTAMP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
06-DEC-15 12.00.00.000000000 AM