GETDATE (Transact-SQL)
Returns the current system date and time in the SQL Server 2005 standard internal format for datetime values.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions
GETDATE is a nondeterministic function. Views and expressions that reference this column cannot be indexed.
Date functions can be used in the SELECT statement select list or in the WHERE clause of a query.
In designing a report, GETDATE can be used to print the current date and time every time that the report is produced. GETDATE is also useful for tracking activity, such as logging the time a transaction occurred on an account.
A. Using GET DATE to return the current date and time
The following example finds the current system date and time.
SELECT GETDATE(); GO
Here is the result set.
------------------------- July 29 1998 2:50 PM (1 row(s) affected)
B. Using GETDATE with CREATE TABLE
The following example creates the employees table and uses GETDATE for a default value for the emp_hire_date.
USE AdventureWorks; GO CREATE TABLE employees ( emp_id char(11) NOT NULL, emp_lname varchar(40) NOT NULL, emp_fname varchar(20) NOT NULL, emp_hire_date datetime DEFAULT GETDATE(), emp_mgr varchar(30) ); GO
