How to use the MySQL MONTHNAME() function

In this article, we will learn how to use the MySQL MONTHNAME() function, which returns the name of the month for a given date. We will also see some examples of how to use this function in different situations, and explore some related functions that can be helpful for working with dates and months.

Syntax

The syntax of the MONTHNAME() function is as follows:

MONTHNAME(date)

The date parameter can be any valid date or datetime expression, or a string that can be converted to a date or datetime value. If the date parameter is invalid or NULL, the function returns NULL.

Examples

Let’s see some examples of how to use the MONTHNAME() function in MySQL.

Example 1: Get the month name from a date

We can use the MONTHNAME() function to get the name of the month from a date. For example:

SELECT MONTHNAME('2023-05-12') AS month_name;

This query will return the name of the month for the given date. In this case, the query will return ‘May’.

Example 2: Get the month name from the current date

We can use the MONTHNAME() function with the CURDATE() function, which returns the current date, to get the name of the month for the current date. For example:

SELECT MONTHNAME(CURDATE()) AS current_month_name;

This query will return the name of the month for the current date. For example, if the current date is 2023-12-15, the query will return ‘December’.

Example 3: Get the month name from a datetime value

We can use the MONTHNAME() function with a datetime value to get the name of the month for that value. For example, suppose we have a table called events that stores the details of some events, with the following columns:

• event_id: the unique identifier of the event
• event_name: the name of the event
• event_datetime: the date and time when the event occurs
• event_location: the location where the event takes place

We can use the following query to get the name of the month for each event:

SELECT event_name, event_datetime, MONTHNAME(event_datetime) AS event_month
FROM events
ORDER BY event_datetime;

This query will return the name of the event, the date and time of the event, and the name of the month for the event, ordered by the date and time of the event. For example, the query might return something like this:

Related Functions

There are some other functions that are related to the MONTHNAME() function, and can be useful for working with dates and months. Here are some of them:

• MONTH(): This function returns the month of a given date as an integer value from 1 to 12. For example, MONTH('2023-01-01') returns 1.
• MONTH_FORMAT(): This function returns the month of a date formatted according to a specified format. For example, MONTH_FORMAT('2023-01-01', '%b') returns ‘Jan’.
• LAST_DAY(): This function returns the last day of the month for a given date. For example, LAST_DAY('2023-02-15') returns ‘2023-02-28’.
• DAY(): This function returns the day of the month for a given date as an integer value from 1 to 31. For example, DAY('2023-01-15') returns 15.
• DAYNAME(): This function returns the name of the weekday for a given date. For example, DAYNAME('2023-01-01') returns ‘Sunday’.
• DAYOFWEEK(): This function returns the weekday index for a given date as an integer value from 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday). For example, DAYOFWEEK('2023-01-01') returns 1.
• DAYOFYEAR(): This function returns the day of the year for a given date as an integer value from 1 to 366. For example, DAYOFYEAR('2023-01-01') returns 1.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to use the MySQL MONTHNAME() function, which returns the name of the month for a given date. We also saw some examples of how to use this function in different situations, and explored some related functions that can be helpful for working with dates and months.