All about

DATETIME
Madhivanan
SQL Server MVP
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 Two 4-byte integers

First 4-bytes represents number of days from the base date

(January 01, 1900)
Second 4-bytes represents time which is number of
milliseconds after midnight

Internal Storage
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declare @mydate datetime

set @mydate='2009-12-10 18:32:55:873'
select
@mydate as source_date,
datediff(day, '1900-01-01',@mydate) as no_of_days,
convert(char(15),@mydate,114) as time_part,
datediff(millisecond, '1900-01-01',convert(char(15),@mydate,114))
as number_of_milliseconds
Result
source_date
no_of_days time_part
milliseconds
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2009-12-10 18:32:55.873 40155
18:32:55:873
66775873

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select
dateadd(day,40155, '1900-01-01') as date,
dateadd(millisecond,66775873,dateadd(day,40155, '1900-0101')) as source_date
date
source_date
------------------------------------------------------------------------2009-12-10 00:00:00.000
2009-12-10 18:32:55.873

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 Datetime
Minimum value : January 1, 1753
Maximum value :December 31, 9999
Smalldatetime
Minimum value : January 1, 1900
Maximum value :June 6, 2079

Date Ranges
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Rounding
Datetime value is rounded to
0.000,0.003 or 0.007 milliseconds
Example
select cast('2010-01-01 12:45:34.755' as datetime)
Result
---------------------------------2010-01-01 12:45:34.757

Datetime
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Rounding numbers
Last digit of the millisecond
Rounded value
0 or 1

2,3 or 4

5,6,7 or 8

9
digit)

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0 ( increase previous

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Examples

Datetime value

Rounded value

01/01/98 23:59:59.990 or
01/01/98 23:59:59.991

1998-01-01 23:59:59.990

01/01/98 23:59:59.992,
01/01/98 23:59:59.993, or
01/01/98 23:59:59.994

1998-01-01 23:59:59.993

01/01/98 23:59:59.995,
01/01/98 23:59:59.996,
01/01/98 23:59:59.997, or
01/01/98 23:59:59.998

1998-01-01 23:59:59.997

01/01/98 23:59:59.999

1998-01-02 00:00:00.000

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Rounding
SmallDatetime value is rounded to 1 minute
Values of 29.998 seconds or less are rounded down to the nearest minute;
values of 29.999 seconds or more are rounded up to the nearest minute.

Example
select
cast('2010-01-01 12:45:24.755' as smalldatetime),
cast('2010-01-01 12:45:34.755' as smalldatetime)
Result
-----------------------------------------------------------------2010-01-01 12:45:00
2010-01-01 12:46:00

SmallDatetime
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Millisecond expression
select
cast('2010-01-01 12:45:34.79' as datetime),
cast('2010-01-01 12:45:34:79' as datetime)

Result
---------------------------------------------------------------------------2010-01-01 12:45:34.790
2010-01-01 12:45:34.080

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Date '1900-01-01 00:00:00.000 is equal To number 0

SELECT CAST(0 as DATETIME)
Result
-------------------------------------1900-01-01 00:00:00.000
SELECT CAST(1 as DATETIME)
Result
-------------------------------------1900-01-02 00:00:00.000

Date as number
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Usual method

declare @date datetime

set @date='2010-01-01 12:45:34.79
--Convert to style MM/dd/yyyy
select convert(varchar(10),@date,101)
Result
---------------12/15/2010

--Convert back to datetime

Select convert(datetime,convert(varchar(10),@date,101))
Result
-------------------------------2010-12-15 00:00:00.000

Remove time part

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Efficient method

Select dateadd(day,datediff(day,0,@date),0)
Result
-------------------------------2010-12-15 00:00:00.000

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Find first day of the month

Method 1
(String handling)

declare @date datetime

set @date='2010-03-12 12:36:45'
select cast(cast(year(@date) as char(4))+''+right('00'+cast(month(@date) as varchar(2)),2)+'-01' as datetime)
Result
----------------------2010-03-01 00:00:00.000

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Method 2
(Date handling)
select dateadd(month,datediff(month,0,@date),0)
Result
----------------------2010-03-01 00:00:00.000

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Find first day of the year

Method 1
(String handling)
declare @date datetime
set @date='2010-03-12 12:36:45'
select cast(cast(year(@date) as char(4))+-01-01' as datetime)

Result
----------------------2010-01-01 00:00:00.000

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Method 2
(Date handling)

select dateadd(year,datediff(year,0,@date),0)
Result
----------------------2010-01-01 00:00:00.000

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Find data added on yesterday

Assumption : Table has a datetime column with default
value getdate()
Wrong method
Select columns from table
Where date_col=getdate()-1

Sample Queries
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Correct Methods
Method 1
Select columns from table
Where datediff(day,date_col,getdate())=1
Method 2

Select columns from table

Where
date_col>=dateadd(day,datediff(day,0,getdate()),-1) and
date_col<dateadd(day,datediff(day,0,getdate()),0)

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Find data added on last month

Wrong method
Select columns from table
Where date_col=dateadd(month,-1,getdate())

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Correct Methods
Method 1
Select columns from table
Where datediff(month,date_col,getdate())=1

Method 2
Select columns from table
Where
date_col>=dateadd(month,datediff(month,0,getdate())-1,0) and
date_col<dateadd(month,datediff(month,0,getdate()),0)

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Unambiguous formats
YYYYMMDD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS
Ambiguous formats
DD/MM/YYYY
MM/DD/YYYY
DD-MM-YYYY
MM-DD-YYYY
YYYY-MM-DD
Etc

Date Formats
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Declare @test table(dates datetime)

insert into @test
select '12/03/2010'
select dates from @test
Result
dates
--------------------------------2010-12-03 00:00:00.000

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Declare @test table(dates datetime)

insert into @test
select '27/03/2010'
select dates from @test

Msg 242, Level 16, State 3, Line 3

The conversion of a char data type to a datetime data type resulted in an
out-of-range datetime value.
The statement has been terminated.

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Dbcc useroptions

Set options
Value
----------------------------------language
us_english
dateformat
mdy
datefirst
7
.
.
.
.

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Dateformats
mdy mm/dd/yyyy, mm.dd.yyyy, mm-dd-yyyy
dmy dd/mm/yyyy, dd.mm.yyyy, dd-mm-yyyy
ymd yyyy/mm/dd, yyyy.mm.dd, yyyy-mm-dd
ydm yyyy/dd/mm, yyyy.dd.mm, yyyy-dd-mm
Etc

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set dateformat dmy

Declare @test table(dates datetime)
insert into @test
select '12/03/2010'
union all
select '27/03/2009'
select dates from @test

dates
----------------------2010-03-12 00:00:00.000
2009-03-27 00:00:00.000

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Date format dd-MMM-yyyy

Reliable only if the default language of the server is English
Set dateformat dmy
Declare @test table(dates datetime)
insert into @test
select '12-Mar-2010'
union all
select '27-Mar-2009'
select dates from @test
dates
----------------------2010-03-12 00:00:00.000
2009-03-27 00:00:00.000

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set language german

Declare @test table(dates datetime)
insert into @test
select '12-Mar-2010'
union all
select '27-Mar-2009'
select dates from @test
Msg 241, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
Fehler beim Konvertieren einer Zeichenfolge in einen datetime-Wert.

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set language german

Declare @test table(dates datetime)
insert into @test
select 20100312'
union all
select 20090327'
select dates from @test
dates
----------------------2010-03-12 00:00:00.000
2009-03-27 00:00:00.000

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set language german

Declare @test table(dates datetime)
insert into @test
select '2010-03-12'
union all
select '2009-03-27'
select dates from @test
Die Spracheneinstellung wurde auf Deutsch gendert.
Msg 242, Level 16, State 3, Line 3
Bei der Konvertierung eines char-Datentyps in einen datetime-Datentyp
liegt der datetime-Wert auerhalb des gltigen Bereichs.
Die Anweisung wurde beendet.

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set language german

Declare @test table(dates datetime)
insert into @test
select '2010-03-12T00:00:00'
union all
select '2009-03-27T00:00:00'
select dates from @test

dates
----------------------2010-03-12 00:00:00.000
2009-03-27 00:00:00.000

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Isdate() is used to check if the date is a valid

date but not always reliable

Reasons
It depends on the date settings
It does implicit convertion

Unreliable ISDATE()
function
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set dateformat mdy

select
isdate('12/02/2009'),
isdate('28/02/2009'),
isdate('2009-12-12'),
isdate('20091219')
----------- ----------- ----------- ----------1
0
1
1

Examples for isdate()

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set dateformat dmy

select
isdate('12/02/2009'),
isdate('28/02/2009'),
isdate('2009-12-12'),
isdate('20091219')
----------- ----------- ----------- ----------1
1
1
1

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set dateformat mdy

select
isdate(2000),
isdate('2000'),
isdate(3000000/456)
----------- ----------- ----------1
1
1

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Isdate() does implicit convertion

select
cast(2000 as datetime),
cast('2000' as datetime),
cast(3000000/456 as datetime)
----------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------1905-06-24 00:00:00.000 2000-01-01 00:00:00.000 1918-01-05
00:00:00.000

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declare @dates table (dates varchar(8))

insert into @dates(dates)
Select '20071201'
union all
Select '2007'
union all
Select 2007
union all
Select '1800'
select dates from @dates where ISDATE(dates) =1

Dates
----------------20071201
2007
2007
1800
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select dates from @dates

where ISDATE(dates) =1 and LEN(dates)=8

dates
-------20071201

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declare @d datetime
set @d='2008-10-12 16:32:18'
select
convert(varchar(10),@d,101),
convert(varchar(10),@d,103),
convert(varchar(30),@d,109),
convert(varchar(10),@d,112)
---------- ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------ --------10/12/2008 12/10/2008 Oct 12 2008 4:32:18:000PM 20081012

Date formations
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Dont format dates using sql

Reasons
Dates become Varchars and wont allow date related caluculations
(dateadd, datediff,etc)
Wont allow to make use of index (if defined) if formatted at where
clause
Web page, reports, etc treat it as varchars (calculations, Ordering,etc
wont work properly)

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Do format dates using sql

Cases
Export results to text file with specific date format
Import data from other sources where dates are in
different formats
Front end application cant be changed but it needs
specific date formats for display

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Thank You
Write your questions @
[email protected]

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