pl/sql format mask

I have declared the following variables:

variable name: city_population
value: 55000
data type: Number

variable name: statehood_population
value: 07/10/1890
data type: Date

I want to display city_population as 55,000 and statehood_population as July 10, 1890 using DBMS_OUTPUT. How do I use the format mask to do this? Should the format mask be used when declaring the variables or when displaying them? thanks!!

For the date one, please try:
select to_char(sysdate,'Month DD,YYYY') from dual

Cheers,
Dan

For the number conversion, please try:
select to_char(1000000, '99G999G999') from dual;

Cheers,
Dan

For number conversion you can also use:

SELECT to_char(city_population,'99,999,999') from dual;