CURRENT_DATE and CURRENT_TIMESTAMP in SQL

Introduction

CURRENT_DATE and CURRENT_TIMESTAMP help you get the current date or date and time from the database automatically.

When you want to record the date a user signed up.

When you need to know the exact time a transaction happened.

When filtering records created today.

When adding timestamps to logs or events.

When comparing dates to the current day.

Syntax

SQL

CURRENT_DATE
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

CURRENT_DATE returns only the date (year-month-day).

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP returns date and time (year-month-day hour:minute:second).

Examples

Gets today's date without time.

SQL

SELECT CURRENT_DATE;

Gets current date and time.

SQL

SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;

Gets both current date and current timestamp in one query.

SQL

SELECT CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;

Sample Program

This query shows the current date and the current date with time.

SQL

SELECT CURRENT_DATE AS today_date, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AS now_timestamp;

Important Notes

The exact output time depends on when you run the query.

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP includes hours, minutes, and seconds.

Use these functions to avoid manually entering dates and times.

Summary

CURRENT_DATE gives you just the date part.

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP gives you date and time.

Use them to get the current date/time from the database automatically.