The Oracle SYSDATE function returns the current date and time of the Operating System (OS) where the Oracle Database installed.
Syntax
Since the SYSDATE function does not require any argument, you can call it without specifying the parentheses:
SYSDATE</code>Code language: HTML, XML (xml)Return value
The SYSDATE function returns the current date and time value whose type is DATE.
The format of the returned date time value depends on the value of the NLS_DATE_FORMAT parameter.
Examples
The following example returns the current date and time of the OS where the Oracle Database resides:
SELECT
TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'MM-DD-YYYY HH24:MI:SS')
FROM
dual;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)In this example, we used the TO_CHAR() function to format the current system date and time value returned by the SYSDATE function.
The following table illustrates the arithmetic of the SYSDATE function:
| SYSDATE Math | Description |
|---|---|
WHERE (date) > SYSDATE - 8/24; | Past 8 hours |
WHERE (date) > SYSDATE - 30; | Past 30 days |
WHERE (date) > SYSDATE - | Past 30 minutes |
8/24 | 8 hours |
15/24/60/60 | 15 seconds |
1/24/60 | One minute |
1/24 | One hour |
TRUNC(SYSDATE+1/24,'HH') | 1 hour starting with the next hour |
Remarks
The Oracle SYSDATE function cannot be used in the condition of a CHECK constraint.
In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the Oracle SYSDATE function to get the current system date and time.