Date & Time Functions

Date and time functions let you create dates, calculate durations, extract components like year or month, and perform date arithmetic. Use these to build deadline calculators, age verifiers, subscription billing, booking systems, or any logic that depends on dates.

All Date & Time Functions

Function	Purpose	Example
DATE	Create a date	DATE(2024, 12, 25)
DATETIME	Create or combine datetime	DATETIME(2024, 12, 25, 14, 30)
CURRDATE / TODAY	Get current date	CURRDATE()
CURRDATETIME	Get current datetime	CURRDATETIME()
CURRTIME	Get current time	CURRTIME()
ADDDAYS	Add or subtract days	ADDDAYS(CURRDATE(), 30)
ADDHOURS	Add or subtract hours	ADDHOURS(CURRDATETIME(), 2)
ADDMINUTES	Add or subtract minutes	ADDMINUTES(CURRDATETIME(), 45)
ADDMONTHS	Add or subtract months	ADDMONTHS(CURRDATE(), 6)
ADDSECONDS	Add or subtract seconds	ADDSECONDS(CURRDATETIME(), 90)
ADDYEARS	Add or subtract years	ADDYEARS(CURRDATE(), 1)
DATEDIFF	Calculate difference between dates	DATEDIFF(START_DATE, END_DATE, "days")
DAYS	Whole days between two dates	DAYS(START_DATE, END_DATE)
YEAR	Extract year	YEAR(CURRDATE())
MONTH	Extract month (1-12)	MONTH(CURRDATE())
DAY	Extract day of month	DAY(CURRDATE())
HOUR	Extract hour (0-23)	HOUR(CURRDATETIME())
MINUTE	Extract minute (0-59)	MINUTE(CURRDATETIME())
SECOND	Extract second (0-59)	SECOND(CURRDATETIME())
WEEKDAY	Day of week	WEEKDAY(CURRDATE())
WEEKNUM	ISO week number	WEEKNUM(CURRDATE())
TIMEVALUE	Convert time string to fraction	TIMEVALUE("14:30")

Common Use Cases

Age Verification

IF(DATEDIFF(BIRTH_DATE, CURRDATE(), "years") >= 18, "Approved", "Must be 18+")

Subscription Billing Calculator

RENEWAL_DATE = ADDMONTHS(START_DATE, 12)
DAYS_UNTIL_RENEWAL = DAYS(CURRDATE(), RENEWAL_DATE)
IF(DAYS_UNTIL_RENEWAL

Business Days Estimator

ESTIMATED_DATE = ADDDAYS(ORDER_DATE, 5)
IF(WEEKDAY(ESTIMATED_DATE) = 1, ADDDAYS(ESTIMATED_DATE, 1), 
   IF(WEEKDAY(ESTIMATED_DATE) = 7, ADDDAYS(ESTIMATED_DATE, 2), 
      ESTIMATED_DATE))

Late Fee Calculator

DAYS_LATE = DAYS(DUE_DATE, CURRDATE())
IF(DAYS_LATE > 0, DAYS_LATE * 5, 0)

Quarterly Report Check

CURRENT_QUARTER = CEILING(MONTH(CURRDATE()) / 3)
`Q${CURRENT_QUARTER} ${YEAR(CURRDATE())}`

Function Categories

Creating Dates: DATE · DATETIME

Current Date/Time: CURRDATE · TODAY · CURRDATETIME · CURRTIME

Date Arithmetic: ADDDAYS · ADDMONTHS · ADDYEARS · ADDHOURS · ADDMINUTES · ADDSECONDS

Date Differences: DATEDIFF · DAYS

Extract Components: YEAR · MONTH · DAY · HOUR · MINUTE · SECOND

Week Functions: WEEKDAY · WEEKNUM

Time Conversion: TIMEVALUE

Common Mistakes

Months are 1-indexed: January = 1, not 0. DATE(2024, 0, 1) will error.
Using DATE when you need DATETIME: ADDHOURS requires a datetime value, not just a date.
Wrong DATEDIFF parameter order: It's (start, end, unit), not (end, start, unit).
Forgetting quotes on unit names: Use "days" not days in DATEDIFF.
Mixing date types: Ensure both dates in DAYS() or DATEDIFF() are the same type (both DATE or both DATETIME).