Functions that return system date and time

Functions for Manipulating Data in SQL Server

Ana Voicu

Data Engineer

Common mistakes when working with dates and time

Inconsistent date time formats or patterns
Arithmetic operations
Issues with time zones

Time zones in SQL Server

Local time zone
UTC time zone (Universal Time Coordinate)

Functions that return the date and time of the operating system

Higher-precision

SYSDATETIME()
SYSUTCDATETIME()
SYSDATETIMEOFFSET()

Lower-precision

GETDATE()
GETUTCDATE()
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

Higher-precision functions example

SELECT 
    SYSDATETIME() AS [SYSDATETIME],
    SYSDATETIMEOFFSET() AS [SYSDATETIMEOFFSET],  
    SYSUTCDATETIME() AS [SYSUTCDATETIME];

| [SYSDATETIME]               | [SYSDATETIMEOFFSET]                | [SYSUTCDATETIME]            |
|-----------------------------|------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
| 2019-04-15 00:35:38.8740380 | 2019-04-15 00:35:38.8740380 +03:00 | 2019-04-14 21:35:38.8740380 |

Lower-precision functions example

SELECT 
    CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AS [CURRENT_TIMESTAMP], 
    GETDATE() AS [GETDATE] ,
    GETUTCDATE() AS [GETUTCDATE];

| [CURRENT_TIMESTAMP]     | [GETDATE]               | [GETUTCDATE]            |
|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| 2019-04-15 06:42:56.010 | 2019-04-15 06:42:56.010 | 2019-04-15 03:42:56.010 |

Retrieving only the date

SELECT 
    CONVERT(date, SYSDATETIME()) AS [SYSDATETIME], 
    CONVERT(date, SYSDATETIMEOFFSET()) AS [SYSDATETIMEOFFSET], 
    CONVERT(date, SYSUTCDATETIME()) AS [SYSUTCDATETIME], 
    CONVERT(date, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP) AS [CURRENT_TIMESTAMP],
    CONVERT(date, GETDATE()) AS [GETDATE], 
    CONVERT(date, GETUTCDATE()) AS [GETUTCDATE];

| [SYSDATETIME] | [SYSDATETIMEOFFSET] | [SYSUTCDATETIME] | [CURRENT_TIMESTAMP] | [GETDATE]   |[GETUTCDATE]|
|---------------|---------------------|------------------|---------------------|-------------|--------------|
| 2018-11-22    | 2018-11-22          | 2018-11-22       | 2018-11-22          | 2018-11-22  | 2018-11-22   |

Retrieving only the time

SELECT 
    CONVERT(time, SYSDATETIME()) AS [SYSDATETIME], 
    CONVERT(time, SYSDATETIMEOFFSET()) AS [SYSDATETIMEOFFSET], 
    CONVERT(time, SYSUTCDATETIME()) AS [SYSUTCDATETIME], 
    CONVERT(time, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP) AS [CURRENT_TIMESTAMP],
    CONVERT(time, GETDATE()) AS [GETDATE], 
    CONVERT(time, GETUTCDATE()) AS [GETUTCDATE]

| [SYSDATETIME]    | [SYSDATETIMEOFFSET] | [SYSUTCDATETIME] | [CURRENT_TIMESTAMP] | [GETDATE]        | [GETUTCDATE]     |
|------------------|---------------------|------------------|---------------------|------------------|------------------|
| 07:03:13.4127151 | 07:03:13.4142034    | 04:03:13.4142034 | 07:03:13.4133333    | 07:03:13.4133333 | 04:03:13.4133333 |

Let's practice!

Functions for Manipulating Data in SQL Server