Date functions

Cloud Spanner SQL supports the following DATE functions.

CURRENT_DATE

CURRENT_DATE([time_zone])

Description

Returns the current date as of the specified or default timezone. Parentheses are optional when called with no arguments.

This function supports an optional time_zone parameter. This parameter is a string representing the timezone to use. If no timezone is specified, the default timezone, America/Los_Angeles, is used. See Timezone definitions for information on how to specify a time zone.

If the time_zone parameter evaluates to NULL, this function returns NULL.

Return Data Type

DATE

Example

SELECT CURRENT_DATE() as the_date;

+--------------+
| the_date     |
+--------------+
| 2016-12-25   |
+--------------+

When a column named current_date is present, the column name and the function call without parentheses are ambiguous. To ensure the function call, add parentheses; to ensure the column name, qualify it with its range variable. For example, the following query will select the function in the the_date column and the table column in the current_date column.

WITH t AS (SELECT 'column value' AS `current_date`)
SELECT current_date() AS the_date, t.current_date FROM t;

+------------+--------------+
| the_date   | current_date |
+------------+--------------+
| 2016-12-25 | column value |
+------------+--------------+

EXTRACT

EXTRACT(part FROM date_expression)

Description

Returns the value corresponding to the specified date part. The part must be one of:

  • DAYOFWEEK: Returns values in the range [1,7] with Sunday as the first day of the week.
  • DAY
  • DAYOFYEAR
  • WEEK: Returns the week number of the date in the range [0, 53]. Weeks begin with Sunday, and dates prior to the first Sunday of the year are in week 0.
  • ISOWEEK: Returns the ISO 8601 week number of the date_expression. ISOWEEKs begin on Monday. Return values are in the range [1, 53]. The first ISOWEEK of each ISO year begins on the Monday before the first Thursday of the Gregorian calendar year.
  • MONTH
  • QUARTER: Returns values in the range [1,4].
  • YEAR
  • ISOYEAR: Returns the ISO 8601 week-numbering year, which is the Gregorian calendar year containing the Thursday of the week to which date_expression belongs.

Return Data Type

INT64

Examples

In the following example, EXTRACT returns a value corresponding to the DAY date part.

SELECT EXTRACT(DAY FROM DATE '2013-12-25') as the_day;

+---------+
| the_day |
+---------+
| 25      |
+---------+

In the following example, EXTRACT returns values corresponding to different date parts from a column of dates near the end of the year.

SELECT
  date,
  EXTRACT(ISOYEAR FROM date) AS isoyear,
  EXTRACT(ISOWEEK FROM date) AS isoweek,
  EXTRACT(YEAR FROM date) AS year,
  EXTRACT(WEEK FROM date) AS week
FROM UNNEST(GENERATE_DATE_ARRAY('2015-12-23', '2016-01-09')) AS date
ORDER BY date;
+------------+---------+---------+------+------+
| date       | isoyear | isoweek | year | week |
+------------+---------+---------+------+------+
| 2015-12-23 | 2015    | 52      | 2015 | 51   |
| 2015-12-24 | 2015    | 52      | 2015 | 51   |
| 2015-12-25 | 2015    | 52      | 2015 | 51   |
| 2015-12-26 | 2015    | 52      | 2015 | 51   |
| 2015-12-27 | 2015    | 52      | 2015 | 52   |
| 2015-12-28 | 2015    | 53      | 2015 | 52   |
| 2015-12-29 | 2015    | 53      | 2015 | 52   |
| 2015-12-30 | 2015    | 53      | 2015 | 52   |
| 2015-12-31 | 2015    | 53      | 2015 | 52   |
| 2016-01-01 | 2015    | 53      | 2016 | 0    |
| 2016-01-02 | 2015    | 53      | 2016 | 0    |
| 2016-01-03 | 2015    | 53      | 2016 | 1    |
| 2016-01-04 | 2016    | 1       | 2016 | 1    |
| 2016-01-05 | 2016    | 1       | 2016 | 1    |
| 2016-01-06 | 2016    | 1       | 2016 | 1    |
| 2016-01-07 | 2016    | 1       | 2016 | 1    |
| 2016-01-08 | 2016    | 1       | 2016 | 1    |
| 2016-01-09 | 2016    | 1       | 2016 | 1    |
+------------+---------+---------+------+------+

DATE

1. DATE(year, month, day)
2. DATE(timestamp_expression[, timezone])

Description

  1. Constructs a DATE from INT64 values representing the year, month, and day.
  2. Extracts the DATE from a TIMESTAMP expression. It supports an optional parameter to specify a timezone. If no timezone is specified, the default timezone, America/Los_Angeles, is used.

Return Data Type

DATE

Example

SELECT
  DATE(2016, 12, 25) as date_ymd,
  DATE(TIMESTAMP "2016-12-25 05:30:00+07", "America/Los_Angeles") as date_tstz;

+------------+------------+
| date_ymd   | date_tstz  |
+------------+------------+
| 2016-12-25 | 2016-12-24 |
+------------+------------+

DATE_ADD

DATE_ADD(date_expression, INTERVAL int64_expression date_part)

Description

Adds a specified time interval to a DATE.

DATE_ADD supports the following date_part values:

  • DAY
  • WEEK. Equivalent to 7 DAYs.
  • MONTH
  • QUARTER
  • YEAR

Special handling is required for MONTH, QUARTER, and YEAR parts when the date is at (or near) the last day of the month. If the resulting month has fewer days than the original date's day, then the result day is the last day of the new month.

Return Data Type

DATE

Example

SELECT DATE_ADD(DATE "2008-12-25", INTERVAL 5 DAY) as five_days_later;

+--------------------+
| five_days_later    |
+--------------------+
| 2008-12-30         |
+--------------------+

DATE_SUB

DATE_SUB(date_expression, INTERVAL int64_expression date_part)

Description

Subtracts a specified time interval from a DATE.

DATE_SUB supports the following date_part values:

  • DAY
  • WEEK. Equivalent to 7 DAYs.
  • MONTH
  • QUARTER
  • YEAR

Special handling is required for MONTH, QUARTER, and YEAR parts when the date is at (or near) the last day of the month. If the resulting month has fewer days than the original date's day, then the result day is the last day of the new month.

Return Data Type

DATE

Example

SELECT DATE_SUB(DATE "2008-12-25", INTERVAL 5 DAY) as five_days_ago;

+---------------+
| five_days_ago |
+---------------+
| 2008-12-20    |
+---------------+

DATE_DIFF

DATE_DIFF(date_expression_a, date_expression_b, date_part)

Description

Returns the number of whole specified date_part intervals between two DATE objects (date_expression_a - date_expression_b). If the first DATE is earlier than the second one, the output is negative.

DATE_DIFF supports the following date_part values:

  • DAY
  • WEEK This date part begins on Sunday.
  • ISOWEEK: Uses ISO 8601 week boundaries. ISO weeks begin on Monday.
  • MONTH
  • QUARTER
  • YEAR
  • ISOYEAR: Uses the ISO 8601 week-numbering year boundary. The ISO year boundary is the Monday of the first week whose Thursday belongs to the corresponding Gregorian calendar year.

Return Data Type

INT64

Example

SELECT DATE_DIFF(DATE '2010-07-07', DATE '2008-12-25', DAY) as days_diff;

+-----------+
| days_diff |
+-----------+
| 559       |
+-----------+

SELECT
  DATE_DIFF(DATE '2017-10-15', DATE '2017-10-14', DAY) as days_diff,
  DATE_DIFF(DATE '2017-10-15', DATE '2017-10-14', WEEK) as weeks_diff;

+-----------+------------+
| days_diff | weeks_diff |
+-----------+------------+
| 1         | 1          |
+-----------+------------+

The example above shows the result of DATE_DIFF for two days in succession. DATE_DIFF with the date part WEEK returns 1 because DATE_DIFF counts the number of date part boundaries in this range of dates. Each WEEK begins on Sunday, so there is one date part boundary between Saturday, 2017-10-14 and Sunday, 2017-10-15.

The following example shows the result of DATE_DIFF for two dates in different years. DATE_DIFF with the date part YEAR returns 3 because it counts the number of Gregorian calendar year boundaries between the two dates. DATE_DIFF with the date part ISOYEAR returns 2 because the second date belongs to the ISO year 2015. The first Thursday of the 2015 calendar year was 2015-01-01, so the ISO year 2015 begins on the preceding Monday, 2014-12-29.

SELECT
  DATE_DIFF('2017-12-30', '2014-12-30', YEAR) AS year_diff,
  DATE_DIFF('2017-12-30', '2014-12-30', ISOYEAR) AS isoyear_diff;

+-----------+--------------+
| year_diff | isoyear_diff |
+-----------+--------------+
| 3         | 2            |
+-----------+--------------+

The following example shows the result of DATE_DIFF for two days in succession. The first date falls on a Monday and the second date falls on a Sunday. DATE_DIFF with the date part WEEK returns 0 because this date part uses weeks that begin on Sunday. DATE_DIFF with the date part ISOWEEK returns 1 because ISO weeks begin on Monday.

SELECT
  DATE_DIFF('2017-12-18', '2017-12-17', WEEK) AS week_diff,
  DATE_DIFF('2017-12-18', '2017-12-17', ISOWEEK) AS isoweek_diff;

+-----------+--------------+
| week_diff | isoweek_diff |
+-----------+--------------+
| 0         | 1            |
+-----------+--------------+

DATE_TRUNC

DATE_TRUNC(date_expression, date_part)

Description

Truncates the date to the specified granularity.

DATE_TRUNC supports the following values for date_part:

  • DAY
  • WEEK
  • ISOWEEK: Truncates date_expression to the preceding ISO 8601 week boundary. ISOWEEKs begin on Monday. The first ISOWEEK of each ISO year contains the first Thursday of the corresponding Gregorian calendar year. Any date_expression earlier than this will truncate to the preceding Monday.
  • MONTH
  • QUARTER
  • YEAR
  • ISOYEAR: Truncates date_expression to the preceding ISO 8601 week-numbering year boundary. The ISO year boundary is the Monday of the first week whose Thursday belongs to the corresponding Gregorian calendar year.

Return Data Type

DATE

Examples

SELECT DATE_TRUNC(DATE '2008-12-25', MONTH) as month;

+------------+
| month      |
+------------+
| 2008-12-01 |
+------------+

In the following example, the original date_expression is in the Gregorian calendar year 2015. However, DATE_TRUNC with the ISOYEAR date part truncates the date_expression to the beginning of the ISO year, not the Gregorian calendar year. The first Thursday of the 2015 calendar year was 2015-01-01, so the ISO year 2015 begins on the preceding Monday, 2014-12-29. Therefore the ISO year boundary preceding the date_expression 2015-06-15 is 2014-12-29.

SELECT
  DATE_TRUNC('2015-06-15', ISOYEAR) AS isoyear_boundary,
  EXTRACT(ISOYEAR FROM DATE '2015-06-15') AS isoyear_number;

+------------------+----------------+
| isoyear_boundary | isoyear_number |
+------------------+----------------+
| 2014-12-29       | 2015           |
+------------------+----------------+

DATE_FROM_UNIX_DATE

DATE_FROM_UNIX_DATE(int64_expression)

Description

Interprets int64_expression as the number of days since 1970-01-01.

Return Data Type

DATE

Example

SELECT DATE_FROM_UNIX_DATE(14238) as date_from_epoch;

+-----------------+
| date_from_epoch |
+-----------------+
| 2008-12-25      |
+-----------------+

FORMAT_DATE

FORMAT_DATE(format_string, date_expr)

Description

Formats the date_expr according to the specified format_string.

See Supported Format Elements For DATE for a list of format elements that this function supports.

Return Data Type

STRING

Examples

SELECT FORMAT_DATE("%x", DATE "2008-12-25") as US_format;

+------------+
| US_format  |
+------------+
| 12/25/08   |
+------------+

SELECT FORMAT_DATE("%b-%d-%Y", DATE "2008-12-25") AS formatted;

+-------------+
| formatted   |
+-------------+
| Dec-25-2008 |
+-------------+

SELECT FORMAT_DATE("%b %Y", DATE "2008-12-25") AS formatted;

+-------------+
| formatted   |
+-------------+
| Dec 2008    |
+-------------+

PARSE_DATE

PARSE_DATE(format_string, date_string)

Description

Converts a string representation of date to a DATE object.

format_string contains the format elements that define how date_string is formatted. Each element in date_string must have a corresponding element in format_string. The location of each element in format_string must match the location of each element in date_string.

-- This works because elements on both sides match.
SELECT PARSE_DATE("%A %b %e %Y", "Thursday Dec 25 2008")

-- This doesn't work because the year element is in different locations.
SELECT PARSE_DATE("%Y %A %b %e", "Thursday Dec 25 2008")

-- This doesn't work because one of the year elements is missing.
SELECT PARSE_DATE("%A %b %e", "Thursday Dec 25 2008")

-- This works because %F can find all matching elements in date_string.
SELECT PARSE_DATE("%F", "2000-12-30")

The format string fully supports most format elements except for %a, %A, %g, %G, %j, %u, %U, %V, %w, and %W.

When using PARSE_DATE, keep the following in mind:

  • Unspecified fields. Any unspecified field is initialized from 1970-01-01.
  • Case insensitive names. Names, such as Monday, February, and so on, are case insensitive.
  • Whitespace. One or more consecutive white spaces in the format string matches zero or more consecutive white spaces in the date string. In addition, leading and trailing white spaces in the date string are always allowed -- even if they are not in the format string.
  • Format precedence. When two (or more) format elements have overlapping information (for example both %F and %Y affect the year), the last one generally overrides any earlier ones.

Return Data Type

DATE

Examples

This example converts a MM/DD/YY formatted string to a DATE object:

SELECT PARSE_DATE("%x", "12/25/08") as parsed;

+------------+
| parsed     |
+------------+
| 2008-12-25 |
+------------+

This example converts a YYYYMMDD formatted string to a DATE object:

SELECT PARSE_DATE("%Y%m%d", "20081225") as parsed;

+------------+
| parsed     |
+------------+
| 2008-12-25 |
+------------+

UNIX_DATE

UNIX_DATE(date_expression)

Description

Returns the number of days since 1970-01-01.

Return Data Type

INT64

Example

SELECT UNIX_DATE(DATE "2008-12-25") as days_from_epoch;

+-----------------+
| days_from_epoch |
+-----------------+
| 14238           |
+-----------------+

Supported format elements for DATE

Unless otherwise noted, DATE functions that use format strings support the following elements:

Format element Description Example
%A The full weekday name. Wednesday
%a The abbreviated weekday name. Wed
%B The full month name. January
%b or %h The abbreviated month name. Jan
%C The century (a year divided by 100 and truncated to an integer) as a decimal number (00-99). 20
%D The date in the format %m/%d/%y. 01/20/21
%d The day of the month as a decimal number (01-31). 20
%e The day of month as a decimal number (1-31); single digits are preceded by a space. 20
%F The date in the format %Y-%m-%d. 2021-01-20
%G The ISO 8601 year with century as a decimal number. Each ISO year begins on the Monday before the first Thursday of the Gregorian calendar year. Note that %G and %Y may produce different results near Gregorian year boundaries, where the Gregorian year and ISO year can diverge. 2021
%g The ISO 8601 year without century as a decimal number (00-99). Each ISO year begins on the Monday before the first Thursday of the Gregorian calendar year. Note that %g and %y may produce different results near Gregorian year boundaries, where the Gregorian year and ISO year can diverge. 21
%j The day of the year as a decimal number (001-366). 020
%m The month as a decimal number (01-12). 01
%n A newline character.
%t A tab character.
%U The week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (00-53). 03
%u The weekday (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (1-7). 3
%V The ISO 8601 week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (01-53). If the week containing January 1 has four or more days in the new year, then it is week 1; otherwise it is week 53 of the previous year, and the next week is week 1. 03
%W The week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (00-53). 03
%w The weekday (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (0-6). 3
%x The date representation in MM/DD/YY format. 01/20/21
%Y The year with century as a decimal number. 2021
%y The year without century as a decimal number (00-99), with an optional leading zero. Can be mixed with %C. If %C is not specified, years 00-68 are 2000s, while years 69-99 are 1900s. 21
%E4Y Four-character years (0001 ... 9999). Note that %Y produces as many characters as it takes to fully render the year. 2021