title: Converting from mmddyyyy to yyyymmdd with SQL
body: <p>I should preface my question by saying I am <em>very new</em> to SQL (or any programming involving databases). I started learning SQL a couple of weeks ago when I decided to take on a data project.</p>
  
  <p>I have been using SSMS in wrangling large tables in comma-separated text file format. I need to be able to sort by dates, and the current format is mmddyyyy, but when I try to sort by date it does not work.</p>
  
  <p>I know that converting dates is something that gets asked a lot around here, but I haven't found any solutions that explain things for a newb like myself. </p>
  
  <p>So far my guesses for a solution are to use the CONVERT or CAST solutions, but I'm not sure if that is the right approach. I have found several CAST/CONVERT posts but  none have really applied to my situation. </p>
  
  <p>I hate to have this as my first question, but I'd thought I'd take some down vote bullets if it means I could figure this out. Thank you. </p>
  
  <p>Sample of what I'm trying to do:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT *    
    FROM [databasename].[dbo].[table1]    
   WHERE [ column1] &gt; 01012017;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get the entire table back, unsorted. </p>