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SQLSimplified
date

CURRENT_DATE()

Returns today's date (no time component).

Description

CURRENT_DATE returns the current date according to the database server's clock, with no time-of-day portion. It's a zero-argument function (no parentheses needed in standard SQL) used for "as of today" comparisons like filtering records up to now.

Syntax

CURRENT_DATE

Parameters

None.

Return Type

Returns a DATE.

Examples

Employees & Departments

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Employees & Departments

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Compare to today

WHERE hire_date >= CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '1 year' finds hires in the last year without hard-coding a date.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding parentheses. In standard SQL it's CURRENT_DATE, not CURRENT_DATE(). Some engines accept both; others don't.
  • Time component. It has no time; comparing to a timestamp compares at midnight.
  • Time zones. The value reflects the server's time zone setting.

See also: CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, NOW, EXTRACT.

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