DATE is the datatype that we are all familiar with when we think about representing date and time values. It has the ability to store the month, day, year, century, hours, minutes, and seconds. It is typically good for representing data for when something has happened or should happen in the future. The problem with the DATE datatype is its' granularity when trying to determine a time interval between two events when the events happen within a second of each other. This issue is solved with the TIMESTAMP datatype. In order to represent the date stored in a more readable format, the TO_CHAR function has traditionally been wrapped around the date: SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(hiredate,'DD.MM.YYYY:HH24:MI:SS') "hiredate" FROM employees; hiredate ------------------- 17.12.1980:00:00:00 20.02.1981:00:00:00 The SYSDATE pseudo-column shows the current system date and time. Adding 1 to SYSDATE will advance the date by 1 day. Use fractions to add hours...
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