Categories:

Context Functions (General)

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

Returns the current timestamp for the system.

Aliases:

LOCALTIMESTAMP , GETDATE , SYSTIMESTAMP

Syntax

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP( [ <fract_sec_precision> ] )

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
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Arguments

fract_sec_precision

This optional argument indicates the precision with which to report the time. For example, a value of 3 says to use 3 digits after the decimal point (i.e. to specify the time with a precision of milliseconds).

The default precision is 9 (nanoseconds).

Valid values range from 0 - 9. However, most platforms do not support true nanosecond precision; the precision that you get might be less than the precision you specify. In practice, precision is usually approximately milliseconds (3 digits) at most.

Note

  • Fractional seconds are only displayed if they have been explicitly set in the TIME_OUTPUT_FORMAT parameter for the session (e.g. 'HH24:MI:SS.FF').

Returns

Returns the current timestamp in the local time zone.

Usage Notes

  • The setting of the TIMEZONE session parameter affects the return value.

  • The setting of the TIMESTAMP_TYPE_MAPPING parameter does not affect the return value.

  • To comply with ANSI standards, this function can be called without parentheses.

  • Do not use the returned value for precise time ordering between concurrent queries (processed by the same virtual warehouse) because the queries might be serviced by different compute resources (in the warehouse).

  • The aliases SYSTIMESTAMP and GETDATE differ from CURRENT_TIMESTAMP in the following ways:

    • They do not support the fract_sec_precision parameter.

    • These functions cannot be called without parentheses.

Examples

Set the time output format to YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS.FF, then return the current timestamp with fractional seconds precision first set to 2, 4, and then the default (9):

ALTER SESSION SET TIMESTAMP_OUTPUT_FORMAT = 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS.FF';

SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(2);

+------------------------+
| CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(2)   |
|------------------------|
| 2017-04-26 22:37:22.83 |
+------------------------+

SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(4);

+--------------------------+
| CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(4)     |
|--------------------------|
| 2017-04-26 22:37:25.3530 |
+--------------------------+

SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;

+-------------------------------+
| CURRENT_TIMESTAMP             |
|-------------------------------|
| 2017-04-26 22:37:28.188000000 |
+-------------------------------+
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