Beginning Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ... - S3 Tech Training

Appendix A: System Functions
SYSDATETIMEOFFSET
Similar to SYSDATETIME, this returns the current system date and time. Instead of the simple datetime2
data type, however, SYSDATETIMEOFFSET returns the time in the new datetimeoffset data type (with
a precision of 7), thus providing offset information versus universal time. The syntax is as follows:
SYSDATETIMEOFFSET()
SYSUTCDATETIME
Much like the more venerable GETUTCDATE function, SYSDATETIME returns the current UTC date and
time. SYSDATETIME, however, returns the newer datetime2 data type (to a precision of 7). The syntax is
as follows:
SYSUTCDATETIME()
SWITCHOFFSET
Returns a datetimeoffset value that is changed from the stored time zone offset to a specified new
time zone offset.
So, for example, we can see how the offset gets applied in an example:
SWITCHOFFSET ( , )
CREATE TABLE dbo.test
(
ColDatetimeoffset datetimeoffset
);
GO
INSERT INTO dbo.test
VALUES (‘1998-09-20 7:45:50.71345 -5:00’);
GO
SELECT SWITCHOFFSET (ColDatetimeoffset, ‘-08:00’)
FROM dbo.test;
GO
--Returns: 1998-09-20 04:45:50.7134500 -08:00
SELECT ColDatetimeoffset
FROM dbo.test;
--Returns: 1998-09-20 07:45:50.7134500 -05:00
TODATETIMEOFFSET
608
Accepts a given piece of date/time information and adds a provided time offset to produce a
datetimeoffset data type. The syntax is:
TODATETIMEOFFSET(, )
So, for example:
DECLARE @OurDateTimeTest datetime;
SELECT @OurDateTimeTest = ‘2008-01-01 12:54’;