Term: SYSDATE

Definition:
In Oracle PL/SQL, SYSDATE is a pseudo column which always returns the operating system's current datetime value of DATE type. The format of the DATE output depends on the value of NLS_DATE_FORMAT initialization parameter.

Note that:

The SYSDATE function requires no arguments.
You cannot use the SYSDATE function in the condition of a CHECK constraint.

Example Syntax:

SYSDATE

Example Usage:

The SQL statement below shows the usage of SYSDATE. Note the value formatting done in the second SQL statement to get the Date time value.

SQL> SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL;



SYSDATE

---------

27-JAN-11



SQL>  SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DD/MM/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') FROM DUAL



TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DD')

-------------------

27/01/2011 10:58:12

The SQL statement below will place the current date into the variable 'today_date':

SELECT SYSDATE

INTO today_date

FROM DUAL;