Subtract Days from a Date in SQLite

In SQLite, we can use the DATE() function to subtract one or more days from a date.

For datetime values, we can use the DATETIME() function.

Example

Here’s an example that uses the DATE() function:

SELECT DATE('2050-08-21', '-1 day');

Result:

2050-08-20

If we wanted to add the amount, we could replace - with +, or omit it altogether.

We can specify the days in plural or non-plural form. In other words, day is equivalent to days:

SELECT 
    DATE('2050-08-21', '-2 day') AS day,
    DATE('2050-08-21', '-2 days') AS days;

Result:

day         days      
----------  ----------
2050-08-19  2050-08-19

We can also subtract days based on a number of hours:

SELECT DATE('2050-08-21', '-24 hour');

Result:

2050-08-20

This example uses the DATETIME() function to subtract a day from a datetime value:

SELECT DATETIME('2050-08-21 18:30:45', '-1 day');

Result:

2050-08-20 18:30:45