SET DATEFIRST (Transact-SQL)
SQL Server 2012
Sets the first day of the week to a number from 1 through 7.
For an overview of all Transact-SQL date and time data types and functions, see Date and Time Data Types and Functions (Transact-SQL).
To see the current setting of SET DATEFIRST, use the @@DATEFIRST function.
The setting of SET DATEFIRST is set at execute or run time and not at parse time.
The following example displays the day of the week for a date value and shows the effects of changing the DATEFIRST setting.
-- SET DATEFIRST to U.S. English default value of 7.
SET DATEFIRST 7;
SELECT CAST('1999-1-1' AS datetime2) AS SelectDate
,DATEPART(dw, '1999-1-1') AS DayOfWeek;
-- January 1, 1999 is a Friday. Because the U.S. English default
-- specifies Sunday as the first day of the week, DATEPART of 1999-1-1
-- (Friday) yields a value of 6, because Friday is the sixth day of the
-- week when you start with Sunday as day 1.
SET DATEFIRST 3;
-- Because Wednesday is now considered the first day of the week,
-- DATEPART now shows that 1999-1-1 (a Friday) is the third day of the
-- week. The following DATEPART function should return a value of 3.
SELECT CAST('1999-1-1' AS datetime2) AS SelectDate
,DATEPART(dw, '1999-1-1') AS DayOfWeek;
GO