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MySQL Date Compare

Jordan Sanders · Follow
8 min read · Mar 27

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This article will give us a walk-through of different methods to compare

datetime values in MySQL. In MySQL, we can store dates in DATE and
TIMESTAMP data types. Both data types store data in YYYY-MM-DD
HH:MM: SS format. There are a few differences between both datatypes.

1. The DATETIME supports ‘1000–01–01 00:00:00’ to

‘9999–12–31 23:59:59’ but TIMESTAMP supports ‘1970–01–01

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00:00:01’ to ‘2038–01–19 03:14:07 UTC.

2. The DATETIME is constant, but the TIMESTAMP values change

based on the timezone the application uses because the TIMESTAMP
data will convert the current time to UTC and vice-versa.

Following is a simple example that explains the difference between both data
types.

Query 1: DATE TIME datatype

Query 2: TIMESTAMP datatype

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Now, change the timezone from IST (Indian Standard Time) to CST (Central
Standard Time). After changing timezones, the query output changes like the
following:

Query 1: DATE TIME datatype

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Query 2: TIMESTAMP datatype

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The above screenshot shows that the timestamp is converted to the CST
(UTC -6:00) timezone.

This article contains various queries, so I have prepared a demo setup on my

computer to understand it more clearly. The details are following:

Demo Setup
For demonstration, I have created a table named tblCustomer in the sakila

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database. The SQL Code to create the table is below.

USE sakila;
CREATE TABLE tblCustomer (
customer_id SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
first_name VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
last_name VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
email VARCHAR(50) DEFAULT NULL,
rental_id smallint UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
rental_date datetime,
return_date datetime,
PRIMARY KEY (customer_id)
);

I have inserted dummy records in a tblCustomer table. The SQL Code to

insert data is the following:

INSERT INTO sakila.tblcustomer(customer_id, first_name, last_name, email, rental_id, rental_date,

(1, 'PATRICIA', 'JOHNSON', '[email protected]', 320, '2005–05–27 00:09:24', '200
(2, 'TYLER', 'WREN', '[email protected]', 322, '2005–05–27 00:47:35', '2005–06–02 00:3
(3, 'CLARA', 'SHAW', '[email protected]', 323, '2005–05–27 00:49:27', '2005–05–30 03:1
(4, 'DAVE', 'GARDINER', '[email protected]', 487, '2005–05–28 00:00:30', '2005–05–2
(5, 'REGINA', 'BERRY', '[email protected]', 488, '2005–05–28 00:07:50', '2005–06–03
(6, 'DERRICK', 'BOURQUE', '[email protected]', 489, '2005–05–28 00:09:12', '2005–
(7, 'SUE', 'PETERS', '[email protected]', 683, '2005–05–29 00:09:48', '2005–06–02 04:2

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(8, 'DEREK', 'BLAKELY', '[email protected]', 684, '2005–05–29 00:13:15', '2005–06–0

(9, 'BERNICE', 'WILLIS', '[email protected]', 685, '2005–05–29 00:17:51', '2005–06
(10, 'NORMAN', 'CURRIER', '[email protected]', 686, '2005–05–29 00:27:10', '2005–0
(11, 'JO', 'FOWLER', '[email protected]', 687, '2005–05–29 00:32:09', '2005–05–31 23:53
(14, 'BERNICE', 'WILLIS', '[email protected]', 837, '2005–05–30 00:02:08', '2005–0
(15, 'NATHANIEL', 'ADAM', '[email protected]', 838, '2005–05–30 00:27:57', '2005–0
(17, 'DANIELLE', 'DANIELS', '[email protected]', 995, '2005–05–31 00:06:02', '20
(18, 'ERIC', 'ROBERT', '@sakilacustomer.org">[email protected]', 996, '2005–05–31 00:
(19, 'NATALIE', 'MEYER', '[email protected]', 997, '2005–05–31 00:08:25', '2005–06–
(20, 'ALAN', 'KAHN', '[email protected]', 998, '2005–05–31 00:16:57', '2005–06–01 22:41
(21, 'MARVIN', 'YEE', '[email protected]', 999, '2005–05–31 00:25:10', '2005–06–03 06:

An overview of the DATE() function.

The DATE() function shows the only date part from the datetime expression.
If the expression is NULL, then it also returns NULL. Following is the
syntax of the DATE() function.

Select DATE(datetime expression)

Let us take a simple example. We want to display the date part of

rental_date from the tblCustomer table. To achieve that, we can write the
query as follows:

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Output

As you can see, the query extracted the date part of the rental_date
column.

The DATE() function compares a string expression with a datetime value.

For example, we want to extract the list of customers whose rental date is
28–05–2005. To do that, the query is written as follows:

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use sakila;
select customer_id "CustomerID",first_name "First Name",last_name "Last Name",email "Email ID", re

Output:

As you can see, the query did not return any records because when we do not
include the DATE() function, the query includes the time portion of the
datetime column. So if you re-write the query and include the time portion, it

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will extract the desired records.

Query

use sakila;
select customer_id "CustomerID",first_name "First Name",last_name "Last Name",email "Email ID", re

Output

Now, lets us include the DATE function in a query.

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Query

use sakila;
select customer_id "CustomerID",first_name "First Name",last_name "Last Name",email "Email ID", re

Output

As you see, the query returned a list of customers whose rental date is
2005–05–28. In this case the index is not used.

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The DATE() function can be used with various clauses, operators, and
functions. Let us understand them with simple examples.

Compare two dates using the WHERE clause

Suppose we want to populate the list of employees whose rental date is
greater than “2005–05–27” and whose return date is less than
“2005–06–01”. The query is written as follows:

Query

use sakila;
select customer_id "CustomerID",first_name "First Name",last_name "Last Name",email "Email ID", ,

Output

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As you can see in the above screenshot, we have added the DATE() function
in the WHERE clause.

Now, let us see how we can use logical and arithmetic operators to compare
two dates.

Compare two dates using logical and arithmetic operators

For example, we want to show the list of the customers whose rental date is
greater than “2005–05–30” To do that, we will use the> (Arithmetic
Operator) Operator. The query is below:

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use sakila;
select customer_id "CustomerID",first_name "First Name",last_name "Last Name",email "Email ID", re

Output

Let us take another example; we want to populate the list of customers whose
return date is between “2005–05–31” and “2005–06–03”. To do that,
we are using BETWEEN (Logical Operator). The query is below:

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use sakila;
select customer_id "CustomerID",first_name "First Name",last_name "Last Name",email "Email ID", re

Output

Now, let us see how we can use the function to compare dates. The index is
used in this сase.

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Compare two dates using DATEDIFF() function

Suppose we want to count of days between rental_date and return_date.
To do that, we are using DATEDIFF() function. The query is following:

use sakila;
Select customer_id "CustomerID",first_name "First Name",last_name "Last Name",email "Email ID", re

Output

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Compare dates using dbForge MySQL Studio

The dbForge MySQL Studio has a great feature that helps to filter data from
tables by comparing the dates. We can use this option in two ways

1. Compare the dates on all records of a table.

2. Compare the dates on the results set.

Compare the dates on all records of the table

The dbForge MySQL Studio allows viewing all records in a data viewer tab.
To do that, launch dbForge Studio for MySQL � Connect to sakila
database � Expand sakila � Expand tables � Right-click tblCustomer
� Select Retrieve Data. Following is the screenshot of database explorer.

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As shown below, the data of the tblCustomer table will be displayed in a data
viewer tab.

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Now, we want to compare the rental date of all customers and populate the
list of the customers whose rental date exceeds 2005–05–30. To do that,
right-click on the rental_date column and select the filter option.

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A dialog box filter option opens. Here you can add multiple conditions that
can be used to filter the data of a table.

We want to get the list of customers whose rental date is greater than
30–05–2005. To do that, the filter must be set as shown below

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Written by Jordan Sanders Follow

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PR Manager at Devart since 2010 | Obsessed with the promotion of database
development optimization

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As you can see in the above image, the data of tblCustomer is filtered, and you
can see the list of customers whose rental date is greater than 2005–05–31.
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-- --
Change the rental_date to 01–06–2005 00:16:57 and click on the refresh
data button on the top left side of the output toolbar. To verify the changes,
run a SELECT query on the tblCustomer table.
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