MySQL Tutorial/Date Time Functions/SYSDATE

SELECT SYSDATE(), SLEEP(2), SYSDATE();

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mysql> mysql> SELECT SYSDATE(), SLEEP(2), SYSDATE(); +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ | SYSDATE() | SLEEP(2) | SYSDATE() | +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ | 2007-07-22 19:46:15 | 0 | 2007-07-22 19:46:17 | +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ 1 row in set (2.02 sec) mysql></source>

SYSDATE() returns the current date and time.

The format is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format, depending on whether the function is used in a string or numeric context.

SYSDATE() returns the time at which it executes.

NOW() returns a constant time that indicates the time at which the statement began to execute.

The SET TIMESTAMP statement affects the value returned by NOW() but not by SYSDATE().

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mysql> mysql> SELECT NOW(), SLEEP(2), NOW(); +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ | NOW() | SLEEP(2) | NOW() | +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ | 2007-07-22 19:46:18 | 0 | 2007-07-22 19:46:18 | +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ 1 row in set (2.00 sec) mysql> mysql> SELECT SYSDATE(), SLEEP(2), SYSDATE(); +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ | SYSDATE() | SLEEP(2) | SYSDATE() | +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ | 2007-07-22 19:46:20 | 0 | 2007-07-22 19:46:22 | +---------------------+----------+---------------------+ 1 row in set (2.00 sec) mysql> mysql></source>