YEARS function [Date and time]

The YEARS function manipulates a TIMESTAMP, or returns the number of years between two TIMESTAMP values. See the Remarks section below.

YEARS( timestamp-expression )

YEARS( timestamp-expression, timestamp-expression )

YEARS( timestamp-expression, integer-expression )

timestamp-expression A date and time value of type TIMESTAMP.
integer-expression The number of years (as a SMALLINT value) to be added to timestamp-expression. If integer-expression is negative, the appropriate number of years is subtracted from timestamp-expression. If you supply an integer-expression, the timestamp-expression must be explicitly cast as a DATE, TIME, or TIMESTAMP value. If timestamp-expression is a TIME, the current year is assumed.
For information about casting data types, see CAST function [Data type conversion].

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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