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SQL Server GETDATE() Function

SQL Dates SQL Server Date Functions

Definition and Usage

The GETDATE() function returns the current date and time from the SQL Server.

Syntax

GETDATE()

Example

The following SELECT statement:

SELECT GETDATE() AS CurrentDateTime

will result in something like this:

CurrentDateTime
2008-11-11 12:45:34.243

Note: The time part above goes all the way to milliseconds.

Example

The following SQL creates an "Orders" table with a datetime column (OrderDate):

CREATE TABLE Orders
(
OrderId int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
ProductName varchar(50) NOT NULL,
OrderDate datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT GETDATE()
)

Notice that the OrderDate column specifies GETDATE() as the default value. As a result, when you insert a row into the table, the current date and time are automatically inserted into the column.

Now we want to insert a record into the "Orders" table:

INSERT INTO Orders (ProductName) VALUES ('Jarlsberg Cheese')

The "Orders" table will now look something like this:

OrderId ProductName OrderDate
1 Jarlsberg Cheese 2008-11-11 13:23:44.657

SQL Dates SQL Server Date Functions

From http://www.w3schools.com (Copyright Refsnes Data)