The DATEDIFF function is used to calculate the difference between two days, and is used in MySQL and SQL Server. The syntax for this date function is different between these two databases, so each one is discussed below:
MySQL:
The usage for the DATEDIFF function in MySQL is
DATEDIFF (expression1, expression2)
where the data type of <expression1> and <expression2> is either DATE or DATETIME. The result is <expression1> - <expression2>.
Example: The SQL statement
SELECT DATEDIFF('2000-01-10','2000-01-05');
yields the following result:
5
This is because 2000-01-10 is 5 days after 2000-01-05.
SQL Server:
The usage for the DATEDIFF function in SQL Server is
DATEDIFF (datepart, expression1, expression2)
where the data type of <expression1> and <expression2> is some type of date, time, or datetime. The result is <expression2> - <expression1>. datepart can be one of the following:
| datepart | abbreviation |
| year | yy, yyyy |
| quarter | qq, q |
| month | mm, m |
| dayofyear | dy, y |
| day | dd, d |
| week | wk, ww |
| hour | hh |
| minute | mi, n |
| second | ss, s |
| millisecond | ms |
| microsecond | mcs |
| nanosecond | ns |
| TZoffset | tz |
| ISO_WEEK | isowk, isoww |
Example: The SQL statement
SELECT DATEDIFF(day, '2000-01-10','2000-01-05');
yields the following result:
-5
This is because 2000-01-05 is 5 days before 2000-01-10.