title: Oracle to_date() incorrect output
body: <p>There must be a very simple answer, but I can't find it anywhere.</p>
  
  <p>I have the following which is a section of my <code>select</code> statement:</p>
  
  <pre><code>       case when q.renewal_date is not null then
              to_date(q._renewal_date, 'DD/MM/YYYY')
         else
              to_date(w.END_DATE, 'DD/MM/YYYY')
         end END_DATE,
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>according to all of the docs I can find the <code>MM</code> should give the month in numbers however I'm getting results such as:</p>
  
  <pre><code>30-SEP-12
  26-JUN-11
  30-SEP-12
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It's also interesting that they're hyphenated (-) and not with slashes (/).</p>
  
  <p>So what's the reason for this and how do I achieve what I want?</p>