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How would I be able to extract the time part of a DateTime field in SQL? For my project I have to return data that has a timestamp of 5pm of a DateTime field no matter what the date is
This will return the time-Only
For SQL Server:
SELECT convert(varchar(8), getdate(), 108)
Explanation:
getDate() is giving current date and time.
108 is formatting/giving us the required portion i.e time in this case.
varchar(8) gives us the number of characters from that portion.
Like:
If you wrote varchar(7) there, it will give you 00:00:0
If you wrote varchar(6) there, it will give you 00:00:
If you wrote varchar(15) there, it will still give you 00:00:00 because it is giving output of just time portion.
SQLFiddle Demo
For MySQL:
SELECT DATE_FORMAT(NOW(), '%H:%i:%s')
SQLFiddle Demo
In SQL Server if you need only the hh:mi, you can use:
DECLARE #datetime datetime
SELECT #datetime = GETDATE()
SELECT RIGHT('0'+CAST(DATEPART(hour, #datetime) as varchar(2)),2) + ':' +
RIGHT('0'+CAST(DATEPART(minute, #datetime)as varchar(2)),2)
If you want only the hour of your datetime, then you can use DATEPART() - SQL Server:
declare #dt datetime
set #dt = '2012-09-10 08:25:53'
select datepart(hour, #dt) -- returns 8
In SQL Server 2008+ you can CAST() as time:
declare #dt datetime
set #dt = '2012-09-10 08:25:53'
select CAST(#dt as time) -- returns 08:25:53
I know this is an old question, but since the other answers all
return strings (rather than datetimes),
rely on the internal representation of dates (conversion to float, int, and back) or
require SQL Server 2008 or beyond,
I thought I'd add a "pure" option which only requires datetime operations and works with SQL Server 2005+:
SELECT DATEADD(dd, -DATEDIFF(dd, 0, mydatetime), mydatetime)
This calculates the difference (in whole days) between date zero (1900-01-01) and the given date and then subtracts that number of days from the given date, thereby setting its date component to zero.
Try this in SQL Server 2008:
select *
from some_table t
where convert(time,t.some_datetime_column) = '5pm'
If you want take a random datetime value and adjust it so the time component is 5pm, then in SQL Server 2008 there are a number of ways. First you need start-of-day (e.g., 2011-09-30 00:00:00.000).
One technique that works for all versions of Microsoft SQL Server as well as all versions of Sybase is to use convert/3 to convert the datetime value to a varchar that lacks a time component and then back into a datetime value:
select convert(datetime,convert(varchar,current_timestamp,112),112)
The above gives you start-of-day for the current day.
In SQL Server 2008, though, you can say something like this:
select start_of_day = t.some_datetime_column
- convert(time, t.some_datetime_column ) ,
from some_table t
which is likely faster.
Once you have start-of-day, getting to 5pm is easy. Just add 17 hours to your start-of-day value:
select five_pm = dateadd(hour,17, t.some_datetime_column
- convert(time,t.some_datetime_column)
)
from some_table t
Note that from MS SQL 2012 onwards you can use FORMAT(value,'format')
e.g. WHERE FORMAT(YourDatetime,'HH:mm') = '17:00'
"For my project, I have to return data that has a timestamp of 5pm of a DateTime field, No matter what the date is."
So I think what you meant was that you needed the date, not the time. You can do something like this to get a date with 5:00 as the time:
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GetDate(), 110) + ' 05:00:00'
This should strip away the date part:
select convert(datetime,convert(float, getdate()) - convert(int,getdate())), getdate()
and return a datetime with a default date of 1900-01-01.
you can use CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()) in this case:
INSERT INTO infoTbl
(itDate, itTime)
VALUES (GETDATE(),CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()))
or if you want print it or return that time use like this:
DECLARE #dt TIME
SET #dt = CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE())
PRINT #dt
select cast(getdate() as time(0))
returns for example :- 15:19:43
replace getdate() with the date time you want to extract just time from!
SELECT DISTINCT
CONVERT(VARCHAR(17), A.SOURCE_DEPARTURE_TIME, 108)
FROM
CONSOLIDATED_LIST AS A
WHERE
CONVERT(VARCHAR(17), A.SOURCE_DEPARTURE_TIME, 108) BETWEEN '15:00:00' AND '15:45:00'
declare #datetime as datetime
set #datetime = getdate()
select cast(cast(#datetime as time) as varchar(8))
For year:
SELECT DATEPART(YEAR, '2021-03-21' );
For hour:
SELECT DATEPART(HOUR, '2021-03-21 08:50:30' );
I have some SQL to convert javascript dates to SQL dates which works great. However, I've encoutered some data which is too large and is causing an exception:
Arithmetic overflow error converting expression to data type int
Here is the SQL in question:
DATEADD(MILLISECOND, cast(569337307200000 as bigint) % 1000, DATEADD(SECOND, cast(569337307200000 as bigint) / 1000, '19700101'))
I am running this on SQL Server 2008.
Just do the problematic DATEADD in two steps, starting with a coarser time unit (seconds, minutes, hours etc.), then dropping back to the fine grained one for the remainder.
Avoid going to the level of weeks and months though as that would require actual calendar calculations and we would prefer the system to handle that.
Example below needs to calculate a start time given a (possibly) large current duration in milliseconds.
-- large durations can overflow the integer argument needed for DATEADD
-- so do as two steps subtracting minutes (60000ms) and then remaining milliseconds.
DATEADD(ms, -large_duration_ms%60000, DATEADD(minute, -large_duration_ms/60000, GETDATE()))
One way I got around the Integer overflow issue was to subtract a more recent date from the microtime unix time stamp.
DATEADD(s, (CreationTimeStamp/1000-1384128000), '2013-11-11') AS CreateDate,
This will not fix the OP's problem because they will still overflow the max on the date column.
According to MSDN, in DATEADD (datepart , number , date )
number is an expression that can be resolved to an int that is added
to a datepart of date. User-defined variables are valid. If you
specify a value with a decimal fraction, the fraction is truncated and
not rounded.
Also notice that even if you give number as an integer, depending on your date & datepart, it could overflow the max range of the date which is 31-12-9999 for sql server 2008
Number has to be an integer. Here is a Test Demo
I had the same problem and I wanted to be meet the datetime range of mssql
Minimun datetime: 1753-01-01 00:00:00.000 (-6847804800)
Maximum datetime: 9999-12-31 23:59:59.997 (253402300799)
To achieve this the only solution I found was to loop to use DATEADD with int range values.
So based on this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/2904294/687490
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fn_ConvertToBigDateTime (#Datetime BIGINT)
RETURNS DATETIME
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #result datetime = Convert(datetime, '01/01/1970');
DECLARE #LocalTimeOffset BIGINT
,#AdjustedLocalDatetime BIGINT
,#MinIntValue INT
,#MaxIntValue INT
,#RemainingSeconds BIGINT;
-- define int limit
SET #MinIntValue = -2147483648;
SET #MaxIntValue = 2147483647;
-- compute the datetime with the offset
SET #LocalTimeOffset = DATEDIFF(second,GETDATE(),GETUTCDATE())
SET #AdjustedLocalDatetime = #Datetime - #LocalTimeOffset
-- going to the future
WHILE(#AdjustedLocalDatetime>#MaxIntValue)
BEGIN
SET #AdjustedLocalDatetime = #AdjustedLocalDatetime - #MaxIntValue;
SELECT #result = Convert(datetime, dateadd(ss, #MaxIntValue,#result));
END
-- going back in the past
WHILE(#AdjustedLocalDatetime<#MinIntValue)
BEGIN
SET #AdjustedLocalDatetime = #AdjustedLocalDatetime - #MinIntValue;
SELECT #result = Convert(datetime, dateadd(ss, #MinIntValue,#result));
END
RETURN (SELECT DATEADD(second,#AdjustedLocalDatetime, #result))
END;
You can then test the function with :
select dbo.fn_ConvertToBigDateTime(-6847804800) as 'min datetime',
dbo.fn_ConvertToBigDateTime(253402300799) as 'max datetime'
Hope it will help.
You can try converting the millis to days, add the days to beginning of EPOCH, and add the ms part to the date at the end. The problem is that you were trying to convert millis to seconds, which can still be too large number for INT for larger dates.
DATEADD(MILLISECOND,
CAST(myLongDateMs AS BIGINT) % 86400000,
DATEADD(day,
CAST(myLongDateMs AS BIGINT) / 86400000,
'19700101'
)
)
I faced this problem too. In my sql statement, the error occurred when the date time value is null.
My solution is to check whether the date time value is null using "CASE When". Only running the arithmetic when it is not null, and the problem solved.
How would I be able to extract the time part of a DateTime field in SQL? For my project I have to return data that has a timestamp of 5pm of a DateTime field no matter what the date is
This will return the time-Only
For SQL Server:
SELECT convert(varchar(8), getdate(), 108)
Explanation:
getDate() is giving current date and time.
108 is formatting/giving us the required portion i.e time in this case.
varchar(8) gives us the number of characters from that portion.
Like:
If you wrote varchar(7) there, it will give you 00:00:0
If you wrote varchar(6) there, it will give you 00:00:
If you wrote varchar(15) there, it will still give you 00:00:00 because it is giving output of just time portion.
SQLFiddle Demo
For MySQL:
SELECT DATE_FORMAT(NOW(), '%H:%i:%s')
SQLFiddle Demo
In SQL Server if you need only the hh:mi, you can use:
DECLARE #datetime datetime
SELECT #datetime = GETDATE()
SELECT RIGHT('0'+CAST(DATEPART(hour, #datetime) as varchar(2)),2) + ':' +
RIGHT('0'+CAST(DATEPART(minute, #datetime)as varchar(2)),2)
If you want only the hour of your datetime, then you can use DATEPART() - SQL Server:
declare #dt datetime
set #dt = '2012-09-10 08:25:53'
select datepart(hour, #dt) -- returns 8
In SQL Server 2008+ you can CAST() as time:
declare #dt datetime
set #dt = '2012-09-10 08:25:53'
select CAST(#dt as time) -- returns 08:25:53
I know this is an old question, but since the other answers all
return strings (rather than datetimes),
rely on the internal representation of dates (conversion to float, int, and back) or
require SQL Server 2008 or beyond,
I thought I'd add a "pure" option which only requires datetime operations and works with SQL Server 2005+:
SELECT DATEADD(dd, -DATEDIFF(dd, 0, mydatetime), mydatetime)
This calculates the difference (in whole days) between date zero (1900-01-01) and the given date and then subtracts that number of days from the given date, thereby setting its date component to zero.
Try this in SQL Server 2008:
select *
from some_table t
where convert(time,t.some_datetime_column) = '5pm'
If you want take a random datetime value and adjust it so the time component is 5pm, then in SQL Server 2008 there are a number of ways. First you need start-of-day (e.g., 2011-09-30 00:00:00.000).
One technique that works for all versions of Microsoft SQL Server as well as all versions of Sybase is to use convert/3 to convert the datetime value to a varchar that lacks a time component and then back into a datetime value:
select convert(datetime,convert(varchar,current_timestamp,112),112)
The above gives you start-of-day for the current day.
In SQL Server 2008, though, you can say something like this:
select start_of_day = t.some_datetime_column
- convert(time, t.some_datetime_column ) ,
from some_table t
which is likely faster.
Once you have start-of-day, getting to 5pm is easy. Just add 17 hours to your start-of-day value:
select five_pm = dateadd(hour,17, t.some_datetime_column
- convert(time,t.some_datetime_column)
)
from some_table t
Note that from MS SQL 2012 onwards you can use FORMAT(value,'format')
e.g. WHERE FORMAT(YourDatetime,'HH:mm') = '17:00'
"For my project, I have to return data that has a timestamp of 5pm of a DateTime field, No matter what the date is."
So I think what you meant was that you needed the date, not the time. You can do something like this to get a date with 5:00 as the time:
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GetDate(), 110) + ' 05:00:00'
This should strip away the date part:
select convert(datetime,convert(float, getdate()) - convert(int,getdate())), getdate()
and return a datetime with a default date of 1900-01-01.
you can use CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()) in this case:
INSERT INTO infoTbl
(itDate, itTime)
VALUES (GETDATE(),CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()))
or if you want print it or return that time use like this:
DECLARE #dt TIME
SET #dt = CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE())
PRINT #dt
select cast(getdate() as time(0))
returns for example :- 15:19:43
replace getdate() with the date time you want to extract just time from!
SELECT DISTINCT
CONVERT(VARCHAR(17), A.SOURCE_DEPARTURE_TIME, 108)
FROM
CONSOLIDATED_LIST AS A
WHERE
CONVERT(VARCHAR(17), A.SOURCE_DEPARTURE_TIME, 108) BETWEEN '15:00:00' AND '15:45:00'
declare #datetime as datetime
set #datetime = getdate()
select cast(cast(#datetime as time) as varchar(8))
For year:
SELECT DATEPART(YEAR, '2021-03-21' );
For hour:
SELECT DATEPART(HOUR, '2021-03-21 08:50:30' );
I'm trying to compare time in a datetime field in a SQL query, but I don't know if it's right. I don't want to compare the date part, just the time part.
I'm doing this:
SELECT timeEvent
FROM tbEvents
WHERE convert(datetime, startHour, 8) >= convert(datetime, #startHour, 8)
Is it correct?
I'm asking this because I need to know if 08:00:00 is less or greater than 07:30:00 and I don't want to compare the date, just the time part.
Thanks!
Your compare will work, but it will be slow because the dates are converted to a string for each row. To efficiently compare two time parts, try:
declare #first datetime
set #first = '2009-04-30 19:47:16.123'
declare #second datetime
set #second = '2009-04-10 19:47:16.123'
select (cast(#first as float) - floor(cast(#first as float))) -
(cast(#second as float) - floor(cast(#second as float)))
as Difference
Long explanation: a date in SQL server is stored as a floating point number. The digits before the decimal point represent the date. The digits after the decimal point represent the time.
So here's an example date:
declare #mydate datetime
set #mydate = '2009-04-30 19:47:16.123'
Let's convert it to a float:
declare #myfloat float
set #myfloat = cast(#mydate as float)
select #myfloat
-- Shows 39931,8244921682
Now take the part after the comma character, i.e. the time:
set #myfloat = #myfloat - floor(#myfloat)
select #myfloat
-- Shows 0,824492168212601
Convert it back to a datetime:
declare #mytime datetime
set #mytime = convert(datetime,#myfloat)
select #mytime
-- Shows 1900-01-01 19:47:16.123
The 1900-01-01 is just the "zero" date; you can display the time part with convert, specifying for example format 108, which is just the time:
select convert(varchar(32),#mytime,108)
-- Shows 19:47:16
Conversions between datetime and float are pretty fast, because they're basically stored in the same way.
convert(varchar(5), thedate, 108) between #leftTime and #rightTime
Explanation:
if you have varchar(5) you will obtain HH:mm
if you have varchar(8) you obtain HH:mm ss
108 obtains only the time from the SQL date
#leftTime and #rightTime are two variables to compare
If you're using SQL Server 2008, you can do this:
WHERE CONVERT(time(0), startHour) >= CONVERT(time(0), #startTime)
Here's a full test:
DECLARE #tbEvents TABLE (
timeEvent int IDENTITY,
startHour datetime
)
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 0, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 1, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 2, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 3, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 4, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 5, GETDATE())
--SELECT * FROM #tbEvents
DECLARE #startTime datetime
SET #startTime = DATEADD(mi, 65, GETDATE())
SELECT
timeEvent,
CONVERT(time(0), startHour) AS 'startHour',
CONVERT(time(0), #startTime) AS '#startTime'
FROM #tbEvents
WHERE CONVERT(time(0), startHour) >= CONVERT(time(0), #startTime)
Just change convert datetime to time that should do the trick:
SELECT timeEvent
FROM tbEvents
WHERE convert(time, startHour) >= convert(time, #startHour)
if (cast('2012-06-20 23:49:14.363' as time) between
cast('2012-06-20 23:49:14.363' as time) and
cast('2012-06-20 23:49:14.363' as time))
One (possibly small) issue I have noted with the solutions so far is that they all seem to require a function call to process the comparison. This means that the query engine will need to do a full table scan to seek the rows you are after - and be unable to use an index. If the table is not going to get particularly large, this probably won't have any adverse affects (and you can happily ignore this answer).
If, on the other hand, the table could get quite large, the performance of the query could suffer.
I know you stated that you do not wish to compare the date part - but is there an actual date being stored in the datetime column, or are you using it to store only the time? If the latter, you can use a simple comparison operator, and this will reduce both CPU usage, and allow the query engine to use statistics and indexes (if present) to optimise the query.
If, however, the datetime column is being used to store both the date and time of the event, this obviously won't work. In this case if you can modify the app and the table structure, separate the date and time into two separate datetime columns, or create a indexed view that selects all the (relevant) columns of the source table, and a further column that contains the time element you wish to search for (use any of the previous answers to compute this) - and alter the app to query the view instead.
Using float does not work.
DECLARE #t1 datetime, #t2 datetime
SELECT #t1 = '19000101 23:55:00', #t2 = '20001102 23:55:00'
SELECT CAST(#t1 as float) - floor(CAST(#t1 as float)), CAST(#t2 as float) - floor(CAST(#t2 as float))
You'll see that the values are not the same (SQL Server 2005). I wanted to use this method to check for times around midnight (the full method has more detail) in which I was comparing the current time for being between 23:55:00 and 00:05:00.
Adding to the other answers:
you can create a function for trimming the date from a datetime
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.f_trimdate (#dat datetime) RETURNS DATETIME AS BEGIN
RETURN CONVERT(DATETIME, CONVERT(FLOAT, #dat) - CONVERT(INT, #dat))
END
So this:
DECLARE #dat DATETIME
SELECT #dat = '20080201 02:25:46.000'
SELECT dbo.f_trimdate(#dat)
Will return
1900-01-01 02:25:46.000
Use Datepart function: DATEPART(datepart, date)
E.g#
SELECT DatePart(#YourVar, hh)*60) +
DatePart(#YourVar, mi)*60)
This will give you total time of day in minutes allowing you to compare more easily.
You can use DateDiff if your dates are going to be the same, otherwise you'll need to strip out the date as above
You can create a two variables of datetime, and set only hour of date that your need to compare.
declare #date1 datetime;
declare #date2 datetime;
select #date1 = CONVERT(varchar(20),CONVERT(datetime, '2011-02-11 08:00:00'), 114)
select #date2 = CONVERT(varchar(20),GETDATE(), 114)
The date will be "1900-01-01" you can compare it
if #date1 <= #date2
print '#date1 less then #date2'
else
print '#date1 more then #date2'
SELECT timeEvent
FROM tbEvents
WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR,startHour,108) >= '01:01:01'
This tells SQL Server to convert the current date/time into a varchar using style 108, which is "hh:mm:ss". You can also replace '01:01:01' which another convert if necessary.
I believe you want to use DATEPART('hour', datetime).
Reference is here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174420.aspx
I don't love relying on storage internals (that datetime is a float with whole number = day and fractional = time), but I do the same thing as the answer Jhonny D. Cano. This is the way all of the db devs I know do it. Definitely do not convert to string. If you must avoid processing as float/int, then the best option is to pull out hour/minute/second/milliseconds with DatePart()
I am assuming your startHour column and #startHour variable are both DATETIME; In that case, you should be converting to a string:
SELECT timeEvent
FROM tbEvents
WHERE convert(VARCHAR(8), startHour, 8) >= convert(VARCHAR(8), #startHour, 8)
below query gives you time of the date
select DateAdd(day,-DateDiff(day,0,YourDateTime),YourDateTime) As NewTime from Table
#ronmurp raises a valid concern - the cast/floor approach returns different values for the same time. Along the lines of the answer by #littlechris and for a more general solution that solves for times that have a minute, seconds, milliseconds component, you could use this function to count the number of milliseconds from the start of the day.
Create Function [dbo].[MsFromStartOfDay] ( #DateTime datetime )
Returns int
As
Begin
Return (
( Datepart( ms , #DateTime ) ) +
( Datepart( ss , #DateTime ) * 1000 ) +
( Datepart( mi , #DateTime ) * 1000 * 60 ) +
( Datepart( hh , #DateTime ) * 1000 * 60 * 60 )
)
End
I've verified that it returns the same int for two different dates with the same time
declare #first datetime
set #first = '1900-01-01 23:59:39.090'
declare #second datetime
set #second = '2000-11-02 23:56:39.090'
Select dbo.MsFromStartOfDay( #first )
Select dbo.MsFromStartOfDay( #second )
This solution doesn't always return the int you would expect. For example, try the below in SQL 2005, it returns an int ending in '557' instead of '556'.
set #first = '1900-01-01 23:59:39.556'
set #second = '2000-11-02 23:56:39.556'
I think this has to do with the nature of DateTime stored as float. You can still compare the two number, though. And when I used this approach on a "real" dataset of DateTime captured in .NET using DateTime.Now() and stored in SQL, I found that the calculations were accurate.
TL;DR
Separate the time value from the date value if you want to use indexes in your search (you probably should, for performance). You can: (1) use function-based indexes or (2) create a new column for time only, index this column and use it in you SELECT clause.
Keep in mind you will lose any index performance boost if you use functions in a SQL's WHERE clause, the engine has to do a scan search. Just run your query with EXPLAIN SELECT... to confirm this. This happens because the engine has to process EVERY value in the field for EACH comparison, and the converted value is not indexed.
Most answers say to use float(), convert(), cast(), addtime(), etc.. Again, your database won't use indexes if you do this. For small tables that may be OK.
It is OK to use functions in WHERE params though (where field = func(value)), because you won't be changing EACH field's value in the table.
In case you want to keep use of indexes, you can create a function-based index for the time value. The proper way to do this (and support for it) may depend on your database engine. Another option is adding a column to store only the time value and index this column, but try the former approach first.
Edit 06-02
Do some performance tests before updating your database to have a new time column or whatever to make use of indexes. In my tests, I found out the performance boost was minimal (when I could see some improvement) and wouldn't be worth the trouble and overhead of adding a new index.
Here is the issue I am having: I have a large query that needs to compare datetimes in the where clause to see if two dates are on the same day. My current solution, which sucks, is to send the datetimes into a UDF to convert them to midnight of the same day, and then check those dates for equality. When it comes to the query plan, this is a disaster, as are almost all UDFs in joins or where clauses. This is one of the only places in my application that I haven't been able to root out the functions and give the query optimizer something it can actually use to locate the best index.
In this case, merging the function code back into the query seems impractical.
I think I am missing something simple here.
Here's the function for reference.
if not exists (select * from dbo.sysobjects
where id = object_id(N'dbo.f_MakeDate') and
type in (N'FN', N'IF', N'TF', N'FS', N'FT'))
exec('create function dbo.f_MakeDate() returns int as
begin declare #retval int return #retval end')
go
alter function dbo.f_MakeDate
(
#Day datetime,
#Hour int,
#Minute int
)
returns datetime
as
/*
Creates a datetime using the year-month-day portion of #Day, and the
#Hour and #Minute provided
*/
begin
declare #retval datetime
set #retval = cast(
cast(datepart(m, #Day) as varchar(2)) +
'/' +
cast(datepart(d, #Day) as varchar(2)) +
'/' +
cast(datepart(yyyy, #Day) as varchar(4)) +
' ' +
cast(#Hour as varchar(2)) +
':' +
cast(#Minute as varchar(2)) as datetime)
return #retval
end
go
To complicate matters, I am joining on time zone tables to check the date against the local time, which could be different for every row:
where
dbo.f_MakeDate(dateadd(hh, tz.Offset +
case when ds.LocalTimeZone is not null
then 1 else 0 end, t.TheDateINeedToCheck), 0, 0) = #activityDateMidnight
[Edit]
I'm incorporating #Todd's suggestion:
where datediff(day, dateadd(hh, tz.Offset +
case when ds.LocalTimeZone is not null
then 1 else 0 end, t.TheDateINeedToCheck), #ActivityDate) = 0
My misconception about how datediff works (the same day of year in consecutive years yields 366, not 0 as I expected) caused me to waste a lot of effort.
But the query plan didn't change. I think I need to go back to the drawing board with the whole thing.
This is much more concise:
where
datediff(day, date1, date2) = 0
You pretty much have to keep the left side of your where clause clean. So, normally, you'd do something like:
WHERE MyDateTime >= #activityDateMidnight
AND MyDateTime < (#activityDateMidnight + 1)
(Some folks prefer DATEADD(d, 1, #activityDateMidnight) instead - but it's the same thing).
The TimeZone table complicates matter a bit though. It's a little unclear from your snippet, but it looks like t.TheDateInTable is in GMT with a Time Zone identifier, and that you're then adding the offset to compare against #activityDateMidnight - which is in local time. I'm not sure what ds.LocalTimeZone is, though.
If that's the case, then you need to get #activityDateMidnight into GMT instead.
where
year(date1) = year(date2)
and month(date1) = month(date2)
and day(date1) = day(date2)
Make sure to read Only In A Database Can You Get 1000% + Improvement By Changing A Few Lines Of Code so that you are sure that the optimizer can utilize the index effectively when messing with dates
this will remove time component from a date for you:
select dateadd(d, datediff(d, 0, current_timestamp), 0)
Eric Z Beard:
I do store all dates in GMT. Here's the use case: something happened at 11:00 PM EST on the 1st, which is the 2nd GMT. I want to see activity for the 1st, and I am in EST so I will want to see the 11PM activity. If I just compared raw GMT datetimes, I would miss things. Each row in the report can represent an activity from a different time zone.
Right, but when you say you're interested in activity for Jan 1st 2008 EST:
SELECT #activityDateMidnight = '1/1/2008', #activityDateTZ = 'EST'
you just need to convert that to GMT (I'm ignoring the complication of querying for the day before EST goes to EDT, or vice versa):
Table: TimeZone
Fields: TimeZone, Offset
Values: EST, -4
--Multiply by -1, since we're converting EST to GMT.
--Offsets are to go from GMT to EST.
SELECT #activityGmtBegin = DATEADD(hh, Offset * -1, #activityDateMidnight)
FROM TimeZone
WHERE TimeZone = #activityDateTZ
which should give you '1/1/2008 4:00 AM'. Then, you can just search in GMT:
SELECT * FROM EventTable
WHERE
EventTime >= #activityGmtBegin --1/1/2008 4:00 AM
AND EventTime < (#activityGmtBegin + 1) --1/2/2008 4:00 AM
The event in question is stored with a GMT EventTime of 1/2/2008 3:00 AM. You don't even need the TimeZone in the EventTable (for this purpose, at least).
Since EventTime is not in a function, this is a straight index scan - which should be pretty efficient. Make EventTime your clustered index, and it'll fly. ;)
Personally, I'd have the app convert the search time into GMT before running the query.
You're spoilt for choice in terms of options here. If you are using Sybase or SQL Server 2008 you can create variables of type date and assign them your datetime values. The database engine gets rid of the time for you. Here's a quick and dirty test to illustrate (Code is in Sybase dialect):
declare #date1 date
declare #date2 date
set #date1='2008-1-1 10:00'
set #date2='2008-1-1 22:00'
if #date1=#date2
print 'Equal'
else
print 'Not equal'
For SQL 2005 and earlier what you can do is convert the date to a varchar in a format that does not have the time component. For instance the following returns 2008.08.22
select convert(varchar,'2008-08-22 18:11:14.133',102)
The 102 part specifies the formatting (Books online can list for you all the available formats)
So, what you can do is write a function that takes a datetime and extracts the date element and discards the time. Like so:
create function MakeDate (#InputDate datetime) returns datetime as
begin
return cast(convert(varchar,#InputDate,102) as datetime);
end
You can then use the function for companions
Select * from Orders where dbo.MakeDate(OrderDate) = dbo.MakeDate(DeliveryDate)
Eric Z Beard:
the activity date is meant to indicate the local time zone, but not a specific one
Okay - back to the drawing board. Try this:
where t.TheDateINeedToCheck BETWEEN (
dateadd(hh, (tz.Offset + ISNULL(ds.LocalTimeZone, 0)) * -1, #ActivityDate)
AND
dateadd(hh, (tz.Offset + ISNULL(ds.LocalTimeZone, 0)) * -1, (#ActivityDate + 1))
)
which will translate the #ActivityDate to local time, and compare against that. That's your best chance for using an index, though I'm not sure it'll work - you should try it and check the query plan.
The next option would be an indexed view, with an indexed, computed TimeINeedToCheck in local time. Then you just go back to:
where v.TheLocalDateINeedToCheck BETWEEN #ActivityDate AND (#ActivityDate + 1)
which would definitely use the index - though you have a slight overhead on INSERT and UPDATE then.
I would use the dayofyear function of datepart:
Select *
from mytable
where datepart(dy,date1) = datepart(dy,date2)
and
year(date1) = year(date2) --assuming you want the same year too
See the datepart reference here.
Regarding timezones, yet one more reason to store all dates in a single timezone (preferably UTC). Anyway, I think the answers using datediff, datepart and the different built-in date functions are your best bet.