Efficient and accurate date manipulation is a crucial part of data management, analytics and insights in any organization that manipulates large amounts of data. One of the many questions that often arise is how to determine the current age using a specific date in Oracle SQL. Oracle SQL provides an array of date manipulation functions that can help solve this scenario and many others. This tutorial explores this topic in detail with the help of real-world applicable code examples.
How to find current age using date manipulation in Oracle SQL
The simplest way to figure out a person’s age from their date of birth in Oracle SQL is by subtracting the birth date from the current date. Here is how you can achieve this result:
SELECT FLOOR(MONTHS_BETWEEN(sysdate, DATE_OF_BIRTH)/12) AS Age FROM TABLE_NAME
This command retrieves the age for each record in a table. The sysdate function fetches the current date while the MONTHS_BETWEEN function generates the difference between the two dates in terms of months.
Understanding the commands of Oracle SQL
In Oracle SQL, the FLOOR() function is used to round down a number to its nearest whole integer. In our problem, it rounds down the result of the calculation of the difference between the two dates.
MONTHS_BETWEEN() is another important function in Oracle SQL, which returns the number of months between two dates. It subtracts the second date from the first date.
sysdate is a function provided by Oracle SQL to fetch the current date and time. The value fetched by this Oracle function depends on the system date and time.
Step by Step implementation of Oracle SQL Commands
Below is a detailed explanation of the SQL command mentioned earlier.
- Firstly, sysdate function is used to get the current date.
- The MONTHS_BETWEEN() function takes two parameters. In this particular case, it’s the current date (which we retrieved using sysdate) and the DATE_OF_BIRTH column from the selected table.
- The result of MONTHS_BETWEEN() function will be a number which represents the months’ difference between the two provided dates.
- Then, we divide this result by 12, to convert the months into years to get the age.
- Finally, we use the FLOOR() function to round down the final output, removing any decimal points to calculate the age in full years.
In practice, you would replace the DATE_OF_BIRTH and TABLE_NAME in the command with your specific column and table names.
Oracle SQL Date manipulation libraries and functions
Oracle SQL offers an extensive library of functions for date manipulations. Apart from sysdate and MONTHS_BETWEEN(), some other helpful functions include ADD_MONTHS, NEXT_DAY, LAST_DAY, and EXTRACT. Understanding these functions is critical for effective manipulation and utilisation of date-related data in Oracle SQL.
In conclusion, determining the current age using a birthdate in Oracle SQL is a simple process that involves the use of a few key functions. These include the sysdate function to fetch the current date, the MONTHS_BETWEEN function to calculate the difference in months between two dates, and the FLOOR function to simplify the result by rounding it down to a full number of years. By mastering these critical functions, you can effectively manipulate date data within Oracle SQL.
