Determining what this Delete Statement does - sql

Not really a sql programmer. It looks to me that its looking for anything where exch_date is today and deleting it. Is that correct?
DELETE FROM dbo.Table where
DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd,0,exch_Date),0) = DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd,0,GETDATE()),0)

One way to validate this is to input it into a select statement. This will help you identify all the rows that will be affected.
Select * from db.table
where DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd,0,exch_Date), 0)
= DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd,0,GETDATE()), 0)

It appears to be doing a whole day (as in no time component) comparison between exch_Date and the current date.

If you are using SQL Server 2008, the best solution by far is to CAST to date, which is still SARGable (can use index)
DELETE db.table
where CAST(exch_Date as Date) = DATEDIFF(dd,0,GETDATE())
The DateAdd to 0 portion is redundant (extraneous) code.
Prior to SQL Server 2008, you are better off for performance reasons to always test a date/time column against a range than to use a function on it resulting in table scan.
DELETE db.table
where exch_Date >= DATEDIFF(dd,0,GETDATE())
and exch_Date < DATEDIFF(dd,0,GETDATE()) +1

That's what it's doing. Here's another way that treats the dates as numbers, instead of working with the date manipulation functions:
DELETE FROM dbo.Table WHERE
CAST( CAST(exch_Date as float) as int ) = CAST( CAST(getdate() as float) as int )
Note: I had originally had this:
DELETE FROM dbo.Table WHERE
CAST( exch_Date as int ) = CAST( getdate() as int )
But as Andriy pointed out in the comments, this will round up to the next noon, rather than simply truncate the date to an integer. By going through the float conversion first, the integer cast behaves as expected. Andriy's solution of subtracting 0.5 also works fine, although I prefer the slightly more long-winded float version, which avoids any potential magic-number confusion down the road.

Related

Date & float conversion on SQL Server condition

I need help understanding a bit of SQL.
SELECT *
FROM [MyTable]
WHERE CAST((GETDATE()-[MyDate]) as float) >= cast(0 as float) /24/60
AND CAST((GETDATE()-[MyDate]) as float) < cast(499999 as float) /24/60
I pretty much understand that its a date search, what I don't get is the float conversion. Why would you use that? Is that better for performance?
I understand that the first condition is: date higher or the same as 1900/01/01, what I just don't understand is what date is: 499999/24/60 and why is there the magic division?
Thanks for help and explanation.
Converting dates to floats is an old style way of dealing with dates. I think it might go back to more limited date functionality in SQL Server 2000. But it might also be a legacy of folks familiar with dates in Excel (where they are floats).
There is no performance advantage. In fact, such type conversions prevent the use of indexes.
For your two items of code, I think you want:
WHERE MyDate >= CONVERT(DATE, GETDATE()) AND
MyDate < DATEADD(DAY, 499999, '1899-12-30')
The last is arbitrary. A constant value such as:
WHERE MyDate >= CONVERT(DATE, GETDATE()) AND
MyDate < '3000-01-01'
makes more sense. You could use the actual date represented -- '3268-12-11' -- but that would probably confuse anyone reading the code.
EDIT:
On re-reading the question, the logic makes even LESS sense than it originally did. It seems to be something like:
WHERE MyDate < CONVERT(DATE, GETDATE()) AND
MyDate >= DATEADD(MINUTE, -499999, GETDATE())
And that causes an overflow.

How to only check the time on datetime fields but ignore the date?

I have a column that stores data in datetime format. I want to check for all instances where the time part of this column is not equal to 00:00:00:000 - the date does not matter.
Basically, if time() was a function, something like this:
SELECT *
FROM progen.DY
WHERE TIME(DY_DATE) <> '00:00:00:000'
How do I go about doing this?
You only need a minor tweak on what you already have.
SELECT *
FROM progen.DY
WHERE TIME(DY_DATE) <> '00:00:00:000'
Use CONVERT to change your DATETIME to a TIME.
SELECT *
FROM progen.DY
WHERE CONVERT(TIME, DY_DATE) <> '00:00:00:000'
Another way is to convert it to different datatype, eg
SELECT *
FROM progen.DY
WHERE CAST(DY_DATE as float) - CAST(DY_DATE as int) > 0
SQLFiddle Demo
I do this all the time when trying to see if a table's column should be turned into a date instead of a datetime, which is really the answer.
select *
from progen.dy
where cast(dy_date as Date) <> dy_date
the cast removes the time and datetime has higher precedence, so when compared, if the are unequal then it has a time value. Same thing could be done with a cast to time, with a bit of different syntax.
Use DATEDIFF and DATEADD to instead get the date part of the datetime. Compare the column against the date only, and it will return those rows that have a non-zero time.
The way this works is that we first calculate the difference (in days) between the epoch and the value. We add that number to the epoch to create a new datetime. Since the result of DATEDIFF is an integer, any time component gets rounded off.
SELECT *
FROM Table
WHERE DateColumn <> DATEADD(d, DATEDIFF(d, 0, DateColumn), 0)
The time function could then be implemented by the following, not that I recommend it for this specific scenario:
SELECT DATEDIFF(minute, DATEADD(d, DATEDIFF(d, 0, DateColumn), 0), DateColumn) as MinutesIntoDay,
-- or, if you require higher precision
DATEDIFF(second, DATEADD(d, DATEDIFF(d, 0, DateColumn), 0), DateColumn) as MinutesIntoDay
FROM Table
Edit: As mentioned in other answers, you can cast to DATE to achieve the same effect as DATEADD(d, DATEDIFF(d, 0, DateColumn), 0), which cleans up nicely. However, DATE was only added in SQL Server 2008, whereas the formula has compatibility back to at least SQL 2000. So if you need the backwards compatibility or are dealing with SQL CE, casting to DATE is unavailable.
SELECT *
FROM progen.DY
WHERE CONVERT(TIME, DY_DATE - CONVERT(DATE, DY_DATE)) > '00:00'

SQL - Proper "where" clause for current month

Which is the proper way of checking events from current month on SQL Server and why?
1) WHERE (DATEDIFF(month, EventTime, GETDATE())=0))
2) WHERE (YEAR(EventTime) = YEAR(GETDATE()) AND MONTH(EventTime) = MONTH(GETDATE()))
Date format in table is i.e. EventTime: 2011-11-30 15:68:25.000
I don't have access to a SQL Server with a profiler, so I can't actually give as detailed an answer as I'd like.
The question is basically about which one allows the least calculation and most effective use of indexes.
Variants that use string manipulation have the highest calculation load, and don't use indexes at all. So I'll just skip those. That leave four common expressions...
SELECT * FROM date_sargable
WHERE YEAR(value) = YEAR (getDate())
AND MONTH(value) = MONTH(getDate())
;
SELECT * FROM date_sargable
WHERE DATEDIFF(MONTH, value, getDate()) = 0
;
SELECT * FROM date_sargable
WHERE DATEDIFF(MONTH, 0, value) = DATEDIFF(MONTH, 0, getDate())
;
SELECT * FROM date_sargable
WHERE value >= DATEADD(MONTH, DATEDIFF(MONTH, 0, getDate()) , 0)
AND value < DATEADD(MONTH, DATEDIFF(MONTH, 0, getDate()) + 1, 0)
;
The first three use INDEX SCANs, but the last one uses an INDEX SEEK. The difference is that the format of the query allows the optimiser to know you want a specific range of the data, that it's all next to each other in one block of the index, and that it's very easy to find that block.
If, when looking at execution plans, you see a SEEK in one version, and a SCAN in another, you're much more likely to benefit from the SEEK.
Write queries for continuous periods as explicit range condition.
http://use-the-index-luke.com/sql/where-clause/obfuscation/dates
Thus, use something like this:
WHERE EventTime between <begin-of-month> and <end-of-month>
Example code is available at the same page, although doing quarterly filtering:
http://use-the-index-luke.com/sql/where-clause/obfuscation/dates?dbtype=sqlserver#sample_quarter_begin_end
Why? To make indexing easy.
Logically, they both are.
However, I think the first one is simpler (one condition instead of two), easier to understand and more likely to be sargable - so I suggest using that one.
If you have an index on that column, then both calculations are bypassing the index because you're not using what the column is indexed on, but only a part of the index
WHERE (DATEDIFF(month, EventTime, GETDATE())=0))
WHERE (YEAR(EventTime) = YEAR(GETDATE()) AND MONTH(EventTime) = MONTH(GETDATE()))
You are much better off using something like this
WHERE EventTime BETWEEN Cast (DATEADD(dd,-(DAY(GetDate())-1),GetDate()) as Date)
AND Cast (DATEADD(dd,-(DAY(DATEADD(mm,1,GetDate()))),DATEADD(mm,1,GetDate())) as Date)
You can also use the same concept with a >= and <= for the dates
One tip very simple using to_char function, look:
At date example:
2011-11-30 15:68:25.000
you can do this:
to_char(your_field , 'MM') = 11
or for current month of system date:
to_char(sysdate , 'MM') = 11
One detail, to_char funcion is suported by sql language and not by one specific database.

Best approach to remove time part of datetime in SQL Server

Which method provides the best performance when removing the time portion from a datetime field in SQL Server?
a) select DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, getdate()), 0)
or
b) select cast(convert(char(11), getdate(), 113) as datetime)
The second method does send a few more bytes either way but that might not be as important as the speed of the conversion.
Both also appear to be very fast, but there might be a difference in speed when dealing with hundreds-of-thousands or more rows?
Also, is it possible that there are even better methods to get rid of the time portion of a datetime in SQL?
Strictly, method a is the least resource intensive:
a) select DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, getdate()), 0)
Proven less CPU intensive for the same total duration a million rows by someone with way too much time on their hands: Most efficient way in SQL Server to get a date from date+time?
I saw a similar test elsewhere with similar results too.
I prefer the DATEADD/DATEDIFF because:
varchar is subject to language/dateformat issues
Example: Why is my CASE expression non-deterministic?
float relies on internal storage
it extends to work out first day of month, tomorrow, etc by changing "0" base
Edit, Oct 2011
For SQL Server 2008+, you can CAST to date i.e. CAST(getdate() AS date). Or just use date datatype so no time to remove.
Edit, Jan 2012
A worked example of how flexible this is: Need to calculate by rounded time or date figure in sql server
Edit, May 2012
Do not use this in WHERE clauses and the like without thinking: adding a function or CAST to a column invalidates index usage. See number 2 here Common SQL Programming Mistakes
Now, this does have an example of later SQL Server optimiser versions managing CAST to date correctly, but generally it will be a bad idea ...
Edit, Sep 2018, for datetime2
DECLARE #datetime2value datetime2 = '02180912 11:45' --this is deliberately within datetime2, year 0218
DECLARE #datetime2epoch datetime2 = '19000101'
select DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, #datetime2epoch, #datetime2value), #datetime2epoch)
In SQL Server 2008, you can use:
CONVERT(DATE, getdate(), 101)
Of-course this is an old thread but to make it complete.
From SQL 2008 you can use DATE datatype so you can simply do:
SELECT CONVERT(DATE,GETDATE())
In SQL Server 2008, there is a DATE datetype (also a TIME datatype).
CAST(GetDate() as DATE)
or
declare #Dt as DATE = GetDate()
SELECT CAST(FLOOR(CAST(getdate() AS FLOAT)) AS DATETIME)
...is not a good solution, per the comments below.
I would delete this answer, but I'll leave it here as a counter-example since I think the commenters' explanation of why it's not a good idea is still useful.
Here's yet another answer, from another duplicate question:
SELECT CAST(CAST(getutcdate() - 0.50000004 AS int) AS datetime)
This magic number method performs slightly faster than the DATEADD method. (It looks like ~10%)
The CPU Time on several rounds of a million records:
DATEADD MAGIC FLOAT
500 453
453 360
375 375
406 360
But note that these numbers are possibly irrelevant because they are already VERY fast. Unless I had record sets of 100,000 or more, I couldn't even get the CPU Time to read above zero.
Considering the fact that DateAdd is meant for this purpose and is more robust, I'd say use DateAdd.
SELECT CAST(CAST(GETDATE() AS DATE) AS DATETIME)
I really like:
[date] = CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 120)
The 120 format code will coerce the date into the ISO 8601 standard:
'YYYY-MM-DD' or '2017-01-09'
Super easy to use in dplyr (R) and pandas (Python)!
BEWARE!
Method a) and b) does NOT always have the same output!
select DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, '2013-12-31 23:59:59.999'), 0)
Output: 2014-01-01 00:00:00.000
select cast(convert(char(11), '2013-12-31 23:59:59.999', 113) as datetime)
Output: 2013-12-31 00:00:00.000
(Tested on MS SQL Server 2005 and 2008 R2)
EDIT: According to Adam's comment, this cannot happen if you read the date value from the table, but it can happen if you provide your date value as a literal (example: as a parameter of a stored procedure called via ADO.NET).
See this question:
How can I truncate a datetime in SQL Server?
Whatever you do, don't use the string method. That's about the worst way you could do it.
Already answered but ill throw this out there too...
this suposedly also preforms well but it works by throwing away the decimal (which stores time) from the float and returning only whole part (which is date)
CAST(
FLOOR( CAST( GETDATE() AS FLOAT ) )
AS DATETIME
)
second time I found this solution... i grabbed this code off
CAST(round(cast(getdate()as real),0,1) AS datetime)
This method does not use string function. Date is basically a real datatype with digits before decimal are fraction of a day.
this I guess will be faster than a lot.
For me the code below is always a winner:
SELECT CONVERT(DATETIME, FLOOR(CONVERT(FLOAT,GETDATE())));
select CONVERT(char(10), GetDate(),126)
Strip time on inserts/updates in the first place. As for on-the-fly conversion, nothing can beat a user-defined function maintanability-wise:
select date_only(dd)
The implementation of date_only can be anything you like - now it's abstracted away and calling code is much much cleaner.
I think you mean
cast(floor(cast(getdate()as float))as datetime)
real is only 32-bits, and could lose some information
This is fastest
cast(cast(getdate()+x-0.5 as int)as datetime)
...though only about 10% faster(about 0.49 microseconds CPU vs. 0.58)
This was recommended, and takes the same time in my test just now:
DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, getdate()), 0)
In SQL 2008, the SQL CLR function is about 5 times faster than using a SQL function would be, at 1.35 microseconds versus 6.5 microsections, indicating much lower function-call overhead for a SQL CLR function versus a simple SQL UDF.
In SQL 2005, the SQL CLR function is 16 times faster, per my testing, versus this slow function:
create function dateonly ( #dt datetime )
returns datetime
as
begin
return cast(floor(cast(#dt as float))as int)
end
How about select cast(cast my_datetime_field as date) as datetime)? This results in the same date, with the time set to 00:00, but avoids any conversion to text and also avoids any explicit numeric rounding.
I think that if you stick strictly with TSQL that this is the fastest way to truncate the time:
select convert(datetime,convert(int,convert(float,[Modified])))
I found this truncation method to be about 5% faster than the DateAdd method. And this can be easily modified to round to the nearest day like this:
select convert(datetime,ROUND(convert(float,[Modified]),0))
Here I made a function to remove some parts of a datetime for SQL Server. Usage:
First param is the datetime to be stripped off.
Second param is a char:
s: rounds to seconds; removes milliseconds
m: rounds to minutes; removes seconds and milliseconds
h: rounds to hours; removes minutes, seconds and milliseconds.
d: rounds to days; removes hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds.
Returns the new datetime
create function dbo.uf_RoundDateTime(#dt as datetime, #part as char)
returns datetime
as
begin
if CHARINDEX( #part, 'smhd',0) = 0 return #dt;
return cast(
Case #part
when 's' then convert(varchar(19), #dt, 126)
when 'm' then convert(varchar(17), #dt, 126) + '00'
when 'h' then convert(varchar(14), #dt, 126) + '00:00'
when 'd' then convert(varchar(14), #dt, 112)
end as datetime )
end
Just in case anyone is looking in here for a Sybase version since several of the versions above didn't work
CAST(CONVERT(DATE,GETDATE(),103) AS DATETIME)
Tested in I SQL v11 running on Adaptive Server 15.7
If possible, for special things like this, I like to use CLR functions.
In this case:
[Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlFunction]
public static SqlDateTime DateOnly(SqlDateTime input)
{
if (!input.IsNull)
{
SqlDateTime dt = new SqlDateTime(input.Value.Year, input.Value.Month, input.Value.Day, 0, 0, 0);
return dt;
}
else
return SqlDateTime.Null;
}
I, personally, almost always use User Defined functions for this if dealing with SQL Server 2005 (or lower version), however, it should be noted that there are specific drawbacks to using UDF's, especially if applying them to WHERE clauses (see below and the comments on this answer for further details). If using SQL Server 2008 (or higher) - see below.
In fact, for most databases that I create, I add these UDF's in right near the start since I know there's a 99% chance I'm going to need them sooner or later.
I create one for "date only" & "time only" (although the "date only" one is by far the most used of the two).
Here's some links to a variety of date-related UDF's:
Essential SQL Server Date, Time and DateTime Functions
Get Date Only Function
That last link shows no less than 3 different ways to getting the date only part of a datetime field and mentions some pros and cons of each approach.
If using a UDF, it should be noted that you should try to avoid using the UDF as part of a WHERE clause in a query as this will greatly hinder performance of the query. The main reason for this is that using a UDF in a WHERE clause renders that clause as non-sargable, which means that SQL Server can no longer use an index with that clause in order to improve the speed of query execution. With reference to my own usage of UDF's, I'll frequently use the "raw" date column within the WHERE clause, but apply the UDF to the SELECTed column. In this way, the UDF is only applied to the filtered result-set and not every row of the table as part of the filter.
Of course, the absolute best approach for this is to use SQL Server 2008 (or higher) and separate out your dates and times, as the SQL Server database engine is then natively providing the individual date and time components, and can efficiently query these independently without the need for a UDF or other mechanism to extract either the date or time part from a composite datetime type.
I would use:
CAST
(
CAST(YEAR(DATEFIELD) as varchar(4)) + '/' CAST(MM(DATEFIELD) as varchar(2)) + '/' CAST(DD(DATEFIELD) as varchar(2)) as datetime
)
Thus effectively creating a new field from the date field you already have.

How can I compare time in SQL Server?

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.