The AT TIME ZONE clause was introduced in SQL Server 2016 to convert a date into a datetimeoffset value in a target time zone.
This function is similar to some other T-SQL functions, such as SWITCHOFFSET() and TODATETIMEOFFSET(), however, the AT TIME ZONE clause allows/(requires) you to specify the time zone offset by name, instead of an actual offset value.
This article explores how AT TIME ZONE works, and explains its benefits when compared to the other functions mentioned.
SQL Server provides the sys.time_zone_info server-wide configuration view to return a list of supported time zones.
You can retrieve these with a simple SELECT statement.
Microsoft introduced the CURRENT_TIMEZONE() function in SQL Server 2019 for returning the time zone of the server.
More specifically, this function “returns the name of the time zone observed by a server or an instance”.
Continue readingIf you’ve ever queried the sysjobhistory table in the msdb database, you’ll probably know that the datetime and duration columns are stored as integers.
In particular, when you query this table, the run_date, run_time, and duration columns are returned as integers, which can make it difficult to read.
Below is a query you can use to return this data in an easier to read format.
Continue readingIn SQL Server, you can use the T-SQL FORMAT() function to format a time data type. However, if you need to add the AM/PM designator, you’ll need to use a different data type. This is because the time data type is specifically based on a 24 hour clock, and therefore the time is formatted as such.
In SQL Server, when you use the T-SQL FORMAT() function to format a time data type, you need to remember to escape any colons or periods in your format string.
This is because the FORMAT() function relies upon CLR formatting rules, which dictate that colons and periods must be escaped. Therefore, when the format string (second parameter) contains a colon or period, the colon or period must be escaped with backslash when an input value (first parameter) is of the time data type.