Oracle CURRENT_DATE Function

Oracle CURRENT_DATE is a built-in function that returns the current date in the current session time zone as a value of the DATE data type in the Gregorian calendar.

Oracle `CURRENT_DATE` Syntax

Here is the syntax of the Oracle CURRENT_DATE function:

CURRENT_DATE

Note that you cannot use parentheses after the function name.

Parameters

The Oracle CURRENT_DATE function does not require any parameters.

Return Value

The Oracle CURRENT_DATE function returns the current date in the current session time zone as a value of the DATE data type in the Gregorian calendar.

Oracle `CURRENT_DATE` Examples

Here are some examples that demonstrate the usage of the Oracle CURRENT_DATE function.

Basic Usage

To get the current date, use the following statement:

ALTER SESSION SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT = 'YYYY-MM-DD';
SELECT
    CURRENT_DATE
FROM dual;

Output:

CURRENT_DATE
_______________
2023-02-11

Here, we use the ALTER SESSION statement to change the date format of the current session to YYYY-MM-DD.

Current Time

You can display the current date and time by modifying the date format of the current session.

First, modify the date format of the current session to display the date and time in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS:

ALTER SESSION SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT = 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS';

Then, run the CURRENT_DATE function:

SELECT
    CURRENT_DATE
FROM dual;

Output:

CURRENT_DATE
______________________
2023-02-11 14:06:54

Conclusion