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SQL GETDATE Function

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SQL GETDATE function is a SQL Date and Time Function used to return the Current Date and Time. In this section, we use this Getdate function to find SQL Today’s date with a practical example.

The return value of this SQL GETDATE function derived from the OS (Operating System) of the computer on which the SQL Server instance is running. The syntax of the GETDATE function in SQL Server is

GETDATE()

We can use this GETDATE function to find out:

  • When was the data inserted or updated?
  • Maintaining the Log files
  • When was the last order, the customer has made?
  • How long an Employee associated with us? etc

SQL GETDATE Example 1

The SQL Server GETDATE function returns datetime data type, and the format is: ‘yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.mmm’ (you can see, fractional seconds precision is 3).

SELECT GETDATE() AS [Current_Date]

OUTPUT

SQL GETDATE Function 1

GETDATE Function Example 2

In this example, we are going to show you some of the GETDATE examples.

-- SQL Today's date example
SELECT 'Today' AS 'TODAY', GETDATE() AS [Current_Date];

SELECT 'Year' AS 'YEAR', DATEPART(year, GETDATE()) AS [Present_Year]; 

SELECT 'Month' AS 'MONTH', DATENAME(month, GETDATE()) AS [Month_Name]; 

SELECT 'Tomorrow' AS 'DAY', DATEADD(day, 1, GETDATE()) AS [Next_Day];

OUTPUT

SQL GETDATE Function 2

ANALYSIS

We used the SQL DATEPART function to display the year value from today’s date

SELECT 'Year' AS 'YEAR', DATEPART(year, GETDATE()) AS [Present_Year];

We used the DATENAME in SQL Server to display the Month name from today’s date

SELECT 'Month' AS 'MONTH', DATENAME(month, GETDATE()) AS [Month_Name];

Next, we used the SQL DATEADD function to display the Tomorrow date

SELECT 'Tomorrow' AS 'DAY', DATEADD(day, 1, GETDATE()) AS [Next_Day];

Sql Server GETDATE Function Example 3

In this Date and Time Function example, we are going to check Employee details (such as: Which date we hired him, how long he associated with this company, etc.). For this SQL today’s date example, we are using the DATEDIFF function.

SELECT [FirstName] + ' '+ [LastName] AS [Full Name]
      ,[Occupation]
      ,[YearlyIncome]
      ,[HireDate]
      ,DATEDIFF (year, [HireDate], GETDATE()) AS [YEARS]
      ,DATEDIFF (quarter, [HireDate], GETDATE()) AS [QUARTERS]
      ,DATEDIFF (month, [HireDate], GETDATE()) AS [MONTHS]
      ,DATEDIFF (day, [HireDate], GETDATE()) AS [DAYS]
  FROM [SQL Tutorial].[dbo].[Employee]

OUTPUT

SQL GETDATE Function 3

From the above screenshot, you can observe that we used the DATEDIFF function to show the difference between the Employee Hire date and Today (GETDTE()).

Placed Under: SQL