In SQL, FORMAT() function is used to format a column value means how a field will to be displayed.

FORMAT() Syntax

SELECT FORMAT(column_name,format) FROM table_name;

In the above syntax parameters are as below:

Parameter      Description
column_name    Required. The field needs to be formatted.
format         Required. Specifies the format for specified column.

We have a table "employee" as below:

    employee
    id  first_name            last_name       salary
    .......................................................
    1   John                     Simp         10000
    2   Chris                    Hely         25000
    3   Joy                      Roy          20000
    4   Jenny                    Mill         35000

FORMAT() Example

The below query selects the first_name and salary for today (formatted like YYYY-MM-DD) from the "employee" table:

SELECT first_name, salary, FORMAT(NOW(), 'YYYY-MM-DD') as current_date FROM employee;

Result:

    first_name            salary        current_date
    .......................................................
    John                  10000            2016-01-01 
    Chris                 25000            2016-01-01 
    Joy                   20000            2016-01-01 
    Jenny                 35000            2016-01-01 

Hope this will help you :)