SQL SERVER – Tips from the SQL Joes 2 Pros Development Series – System and Time Data Types – Day 16 of 35

Answer simple quiz at the end of the blog post and –
Every day one winner from India will get Joes 2 Pros Volume 3.
Every day one winner from United States will get Joes 2 Pros Volume 3.

System and Time Data Types

Keeping track of date and time data points has always been a critical part of online transactional databases. For example, each sales invoice record needs a date-time stamp, as do systems which track quotes and customer contacts regarding sales opportunities.

Think of how many times during your workday that you rely on a date-time stamp as helpful metadata to sort or locate the latest information in a report or data source. Global organizations, in particular, have a need for their in-house communication, reporting, and collaboration tools to appropriately convey accurate date and time information in order to keep every part of the organization in sync.

Recap of DateTime Functions

GETDATE( ) and SELECT SYSDATETIME( ) both return the current date and time in your time zone. However, GETDATE( ) shows fractional seconds expressed in milliseconds (.333 second), and SYSDATETIME( ) shows fractional seconds expressed in nanoseconds (.3333333 second). SYSDATETIME( ) return similar results but their precisions differ.

SQL SERVER - Tips from the SQL Joes 2 Pros Development Series - System and Time Data Types - Day 16 of 35 j2p_16_1

What time is it right now in the UK? UTC is Coordinated Universal Time, formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). (UTC is also known by the terms zulu time, world time, and universal time.)

SELECT GETUTCDATE( ) will show the current time expressed in terms of UTC. GETUTCDATE( ) is less precise than SYSUTCDATETIME ( ). However there is a UTC function that gets down to the nanoseconds, SYSUTCDATETIME( ). When we run all 4 of these functions together We see the two top times in my local time zone (in my case the Pacific time zone) and the two bottom times in UTC.

SQL SERVER - Tips from the SQL Joes 2 Pros Development Series - System and Time Data Types - Day 16 of 35 j2p_16_2

Question 16

Which one of the following functions will return the date and time in the current time zone to a precision of milliseconds?

  1. GETDATE( )
  2. SYSDATETIME( )
  3. GETUTCDATE( )
  4. SYSUTCDATETIME( )

Rules:

Please leave your answer in comment section below with correct option, explanation and your country of resident.
Every day one winner will be announced from United States.
Every day one winner will be announced from India.
A valid answer must contain country of residence of answerer.
Please check my facebook page for winners name and correct answer.
Winner from United States will get Joes 2 Pros Volume 3.
Winner from India will get Joes 2 Pros Volume 3.
The contest is open till next blog post shows up at which is next day GTM+2.5.

Reference:  Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)

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100 Comments. Leave new

  • Sayli Deshmukh (@sddesh)
    August 16, 2011 10:39 am

    GETDATE()

    sddesh
    USA

    Reply
  • Gopalakrishnan Arthanarisamy
    August 16, 2011 10:43 am

    Correct answer is # 1.

    It displays the current time zone’s date and time with respect to the milliseconds format.

    Option 1 GETDATE(): It returns the current date and time in your time zone. It shows fractional seconds expressed in milliseconds (.333 second).
    Option 2 SYSDATETIME(): It returns the current date and time in your time zone. But it shows fractional seconds expressed in nanoseconds (.3333333 second).
    Option 3 GETUTCDATE(): It will show the current time expressed in terms of UTC. GETUTCDATE( ) is less precise than SYSUTCDATETIME ( ).
    Option 4 SYSUTCDATETIME(): It will show the current time expressed in terms of UTC and it gets down to the nanoseconds.

    Gopalakrishnan Arthanarisamy
    Unisys, Bangalore, India

    Reply
  • Gopalakrishnan Arthanarisamy
    August 16, 2011 10:45 am

    Correct answer is # 1.

    It displays the current time zone’s date and time with respect to the milliseconds format.

    Option 1 GETDATE(): It returns the current date and time in your time zone. It shows fractional seconds expressed in milliseconds (.333 second).

    Option 2 SYSDATETIME(): It returns the current date and time in your time zone. But it shows fractional seconds expressed in nanoseconds (.3333333 second).

    Option 3 GETUTCDATE(): It will show the current time expressed in terms of UTC. GETUTCDATE( ) is less precise than SYSUTCDATETIME ( ).

    Option 4 SYSUTCDATETIME(): It will show the current time expressed in terms of UTC and it gets down to the nanoseconds.

    Gopalakrishnan Arthanarisamy
    Unisys, Bangalore, India

    Reply
  • Correct Answer is : Option 1 GETDATE()

    — GVPrabu || BANGALORE || INDIA

    Reply
  • Correct answer is Option #1

    1.GETDATE()

    becuase option #1 GETDATE() and #2 SYSDATETIME() returns date and time value with respect to CURRENT time zone, however, option #1 returns in fractional seconds expressed in milliseconds,
    option #2 returns in fractional seconds expressed in nanoseconds.

    Option #3 GETUTCDATE() and #4 SYSUTCDATETIME() returns the date and time value in UTC format., so these are incorrect.

    Reply
  • Correct answer is Option #1

    1.GETDATE()

    becuase option #1 GETDATE() and #2 SYSDATETIME() returns date and time value with respect to CURRENT time zone, however, option #1 returns in fractional seconds expressed in milliseconds,
    option #2 returns in fractional seconds expressed in nanoseconds.

    Option #3 GETUTCDATE() and #4 SYSUTCDATETIME() returns the date and time value in UTC format., so these are incorrect.

    Cochin,INDIA

    Reply
  • Correct option is Option #1
    GETDATE( )

    SYSDATETIME() returns current time zone datetime upto nanoseconds which is not required.

    Option #3 GETUTCDATE() and #4 SYSUTCDATETIME() return datetime in UTC format which is also not required.

    Sumit
    India

    Reply
  • http://tejnarayan.wordpress.com
    August 16, 2011 11:04 am

    option one 1. GETDATE() is the right answer

    because option 2 returns value in nonoseconds
    option 3 and 4 gives value in utc date time

    Tej Narayan Maurya
    India

    Reply
  • Correct answer is
    Option 1- GETDATE( )

    City:Baroda
    Country: India

    Thanks,
    GurjitSingh

    Reply
  • Hi,

    Option #1 GetDate() is correct. It will return in nanosecods.

    Thanks

    Sudhir Chawla
    India

    Reply
  • Partha Pratim Dinda
    August 16, 2011 11:38 am

    Answer is 1;
    SELECT GETDATE( )

    GETDATE( ) shows fractional seconds expressed in milliseconds ,
    and SYSDATETIME( ) shows fractional seconds expressed in nanoseconds

    GETUTCDATE( ) will show the current time expressed in terms of UTC. SYSUTCDATETIME ( ) will show curretnt time gets down to the nanoseconds.

    Reply
  • Answer is Option -1
    GETDATE() will gives the correct date and time with the precission of milliseconds.

    Thanks,
    Narendra (India)

    Reply
  • Correct Answer is option 1.

    getdate() returns current time zone details with milliseconds precision.

    Thanks,
    Fazal

    Reply
  • Correct Answer is option 1.

    getdate() returns current time zone details with milliseconds precision.

    Country:India

    Thanks,
    Fazal

    Reply
  • Option 1 is correct. Because

    1) GETDATE() returns a DATETIME value. A DATETIME value has precision upto 3 milliseconds.

    2) SYSDATETIME() returns a DATETIME2 value. which gives precision upto 100nanoseconds

    Thanks
    Santosh.S
    Bangalore

    Reply
  • abhishek mishra
    August 16, 2011 11:55 am

    Answer 1 is Correct

    because GETDATE( ) gives fractional seconds expressed in milliseconds
    and GETUTCDATE( ) will show the current time expressed in milliseconds terms of UTC

    Abhishek MIshra
    INDIA NOIDA

    Reply
  • Hi,

    Option #1 GetDate() is correct. It will return in milliseconds not nanoseconds.

    Thanks

    Sudhir Chawla
    India

    Reply
  • Anish Shenoy.P
    August 16, 2011 12:07 pm

    Hi Sir,

    Option 1 is the correct answer as GETDATE() will return the date and time in the current time zone to a precision of milliseconds (.333 second).

    option 2 SYSDATETIME() will return the date and time in the current time zone to a precision of nanoseconds (.3333333 second).

    Option 3 GETUTCDATE() will show the current time expressed in terms of UTC to a precision of milliseconds.

    Option 4 SYSUTCDATETIME() will show the current time expressed in terms of UTC to a precision of nanoseconds.

    So the correct answer is Option no 1 GETDATE().

    P.Anish Shenoy,
    INDIA, Bangalore, Karnataka

    Reply
  • Correct Option is 1

    i.e. 1) GETDATE() which gives date and time and the precision to milliseconds.

    I’m from INDIA

    Reply
  • The Correct answer is : #1

    GETDATE( )

    Mohd Thoufeek
    chennai-india

    Reply

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