YEARS function [Date and time]

Given two dates, this function returns the integer number of years between them. It is recommended that you use the DATEDIFF function instead. See DATEDIFF function [Date and time].

Given one date, it returns the year. It is recommended that you use the DATEPART function instead. See DATEPART function [Date and time].

Given one date and an integer, it adds the integer number of years to the specified date. It is recommended that you use the DATEADD function instead. See DATEADD function [Date and time].

Syntax 1

YEARS( [ datetime-expression, ] datetime-expression )

Syntax 2

YEARS( datetime-expression, integer-expression )

Parameters

datetime-expression A date and time.
integer-expression The number of years to be added to the datetime-expression. If integer-expression is negative, the appropriate number of years is subtracted from the datetime value. If you supply an integer-expression, the datetime-expression must be explicitly cast as a datetime data type.
For information about casting data types, see CAST function [Data type conversion].

Returns

Syntax 1 returns an INTEGER. Syntax 2 returns a TIMESTAMP.

Remarks

The value of YEARS is calculated from the number of first days of the year between the two dates.

Standards and compatibility

SQL/2003 Vendor extension.

Example

The following statements both return -4.

SELECT YEARS( '1998-07-13 06:07:12',
              '1994-03-13 08:07:13' );

SELECT DATEDIFF( year,
   '1998-07-13 06:07:12',
   '1994-03-13 08:07:13' );

The following statements return 1998.

SELECT YEARS( '1998-07-13 06:07:12' )
SELECT DATEPART( year, '1998-07-13 06:07:12' );

The following statements return the given date advanced 300 years.

SELECT YEARS( CAST( '1998-07-13 06:07:12' AS TIMESTAMP ), 300 )

SELECT DATEADD( year, 300, '1998-07-13 06:07:12' );

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