SQL Server CURRENT_TIME Function

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the SQL Server CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function to get the current database system timestamp as a DATETIME value.

SQL Server CURRENT_TIMESTAMP Overview

The CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function returns the current timestamp of the operating system of the server on which the SQL Server Database runs. The returned timestamp is a DATETIME value without the time zone offset.

The CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function takes no argument:

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

The CURRENT_TIMESTAMP is the ANSI SQL equivalent to GETDATE().

You can use the CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function anywhere a DATETIME expression is accepted.

SQL Server CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function examples

Let’s take some example of using the CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function.

A ) Simple CURRENT_TIMESTAMP example

The following example uses the CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function to return the current date and time:

SELECT 
    CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AS current_date_time;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Here is the output:

current_date_time
-----------------------
2019-02-23 20:02:21.550

(1 row affected)
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

B) Using CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function as a default value for table columns example

First, create a new table named current_timestamp_demos whose created_at column accepts a default value as the timestamp at which a row is inserted:

CREATE TABLE current_timestamp_demos
(
    id         INT IDENTITY, 
    msg        VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, 
    created_at DATETIME NOT NULL
                DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, 
    PRIMARY KEY(id)
);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Second, insert two rows into the table:

INSERT INTO current_timestamp_demos(msg)
VALUES('This is the first message.');

INSERT INTO current_timestamp_demos(msg)
VALUES('current_timestamp demo');
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Third, query data from the current_timestamp_demos table:

SELECT 
    id, 
    msg, 
    created_at
FROM 
    current_timestamp_demos;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Here is the output:

As you can see clearly from the output, the values in the created_at column took the timestamp returned by the CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function.

In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the SQL Server CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function to return the current database system timestamp as a DATETIME value.