Sending dates and times to the database

Date and times may be sent to the database in one of the following ways:

  • Using any interface, as a string
  • Using ODBC, as a TIMESTAMP structure
  • Using embedded SQL, as a SQLDATETIME structure

When a time is sent to the database as a string (for the TIME data type) or as part of a string (for TIMESTAMP or DATE data types), the hours, minutes, and seconds must be separated by colons in the format hh:mm:ss.sss, but can appear anywhere in the string. The following are valid and unambiguous strings for specifying times: 

21:35 -- 24 hour clock if no am or pm specified
10:00pm -- pm specified, so interpreted as 12 hour clock
10:00 -- 10:00am in the absence of pm
10:23:32.234 -- seconds and fractions of a second included

When a date is sent to the database as a string conversion to a DATE or TIMESTAMP data type is automatic. The string can be supplied in one of two ways:

  • As a string of format yyyy/mm/dd or yyyy-mm-dd, which is interpreted unambiguously by the database.
  • As a string interpreted according to the date_order database option. See date_order option [compatibility].

Transact-SQL string-to-date/time conversions

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