Detecting the INSERT format for DATE database fields?

[Thomas Jerkins]

Assume I got a database resp. table defintion with a DATE field. How do I find out in which format the
field should be filled in an INSERT SQL statement?

Sometimes when I enter e.g.

INSERT INTO .... VALUES (....., '2005-01-25',.....);
or
INSERT INTO .... VALUES (....., '2005-01-25-13.14.15.00',.. .....);

I got an error like:

ORA-01861: literal does not match format string

before I realized that

INSERT INTO .... VALUES (....., '25-01-2005',....);

is the correct format.

Tom