DATE

In SQL, the DATE data type is used to store dates, without any time information. This data type is useful when you need to store information about dates, such as birthdays, appointments, or deadlines, but don’t need to keep track of specific times of day.

The SQL DATE data type is stored in a specific format, usually in the form of ‘YYYY-MM-DD’. This format ensures that the date is stored consistently, regardless of the user’s locale or language settings. The year is represented by four digits, the month is represented by two digits, and the day is represented by two digits.

Syntax

The syntax for defining a column with DATE data type in SQL is:

column_name DATE

Example

For example, if you want to create a table named “orders” with columns for order ID, customer name, and order date, you could use the following SQL statement:

CREATE TABLE orders (
  order_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
  customer_name VARCHAR(50),
  order_date DATE
);

In this example, the “order_date” column is defined as a DATE data type, which will allow us to store dates such as “2023-05-01” (May 1, 2023) in the database.

To insert data into the “orders” table, we can use the following SQL statement:

INSERT INTO orders (order_id, customer_name, order_date)
VALUES (1, 'John Doe', '2023-04-30');

This will insert a new row into the “orders” table with an order ID of 1, a customer name of “John Doe”, and an order date of “2023-04-30” (April 30, 2023).

To retrieve data from the “orders” table based on the order date, we can use the following SQL statement:

SELECT * 
FROM orders 
WHERE order_date = '2023-04-30';

This will return all rows from the “orders” table where the order date is equal to “2023-04-30”.

SQL provides several functions for working with DATE data types, including functions to extract specific components of a date (such as the YEAR, MONTH, or DAY), to manipulate dates (such as adding or subtracting days), and to compare dates.

One important thing to note about the SQL DATE data type is that it does not include any time zone information. This means that if you need to work with dates and times across different time zones, you may need to use a different data type or use additional functions to adjust for time zone differences.

Overall, the SQL DATE data type is a useful tool for storing and manipulating dates in a relational database system. It provides a consistent and standardized way to store dates, and includes a variety of built-in functions for working with them.