Okay friends,

I have taken both your advice:

SQL> Select to_char(sysdate,'yyyymmdd hh24:mi:ss'),dbms_utility.get_time from dual;


20020606 15:27:51
-740047998

- AND -

DECLARE
checkout TIMESTAMP(3);
BEGIN
checkout := '05-MAY-02 12:55:01.272';
insert into test_table99 (col_is_timestamp) values (checkout);
END;
/

How do I insert into col1 the milliseconds? In other words how do I derive the millie-seconds from SYSDATE?