Use EOMONTH. The SQL Server last day of month is one call, and a second argument shifts months: It returns a date, never a time. Tested on SQL Server 2025 Developer (17.0.1000.7). EOMONTH needs SQL Server 2012 or later. EOMONTH Syntax: EOMONTH(start_date [, month_to_add]) start_date is any date type or date string; month_to_add is an … Read more >>
A report filtered on PlacedAt = ‘2026-07-04’ returned one order. The day had four. Blame the time part. Quick answer (SQL Server convert datetime to date): CAST(PlacedAt AS date) or CONVERT(date, PlacedAt). Both drop the time and return a real date type. For today, wrap GETDATE(): Output: What You Need Before You Start Tested on … Read more >>
Dates stored in SQL Server have no display format, so when a report wants 07/04/2026 you have to convert the datetime to a string yourself. The quickest way is CONVERT with a style code: That returns 07/04/2026. Swap 101 for 23 and you get 2026-07-04; swap it for 112 and you get 20260704. In this … Read more >>
Verdict first: the PostgreSQL now function returns the moment your transaction started, as timestamp with time zone. It’s the same value as CURRENT_TIMESTAMP. When you need the real clock inside a long transaction, call clock_timestamp() instead. Quick answer: SELECT now(); is all it takes. Here’s the type and the server version from my run: Output: … Read more >>
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP in SQL Server returns the server’s current local date and time as a datetime. It’s the ANSI name for GETDATE(), and you write it without parentheses: My runs: SQL Server 2025 Developer (17.0.1000.7) through sqlcmd in VS Code. A raw local clock value means little on your machine, so I show types, ages and … Read more >>
The main types of backup in SQL Server are full, differential and transaction log backups. Copy-only, file and filegroup, partial and tail-log backups cover special jobs. Your recovery model decides which of them you’re allowed to take. Backups rescue you from a dead disk, corruption or a bad DELETE, so I ran each type, restored … Read more >>
Use a function when you need a value or rows inside SELECT, WHERE or JOIN. Use a stored procedure when the code changes data, needs a transaction or TRY…CATCH, or returns OUTPUT parameters. That’s my rule of thumb for stored procedure vs function in SQL Server, and speed doesn’t change it. On 100,000 orders an … Read more >>
That’s the SSMS Table Designer refusing to drop your table. Saving changes is not permitted isn’t an engine error, and your data is fine: nothing was saved. Quick answer: make the change with ALTER TABLE in a query window. It edits the table in place, so no re-create happens: What You Need Before You Start … Read more >>
You’ve got a column of full names or emails, and you need one piece of each value. SUBSTRING in SQL Server does that: SUBSTRING(expression, start, length) returns length characters beginning at start, counting the first character as 1. Quick answer: SELECT SUBSTRING(‘Hannah Brooks’, 1, 6); returns Hannah. Pair it with CHARINDEX when the cut point … Read more >>
You have a Departments table and an Employees table. You want every department in the report, even the one nobody works in yet. Quick answer: a right join in SQL Server returns every row from the table after RIGHT JOIN plus the matching rows from the table before it. Where nothing matches, the left table’s … Read more >>