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SQL Server GETDATE() Function


< 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
2014-11-22 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 2014-11-22 13:23:44.657

< SQL Server Date Functions