Categories:

Context functions (General)

CURRENT_TIME

Returns the current time for the system.

Aliases:

LOCALTIME

Syntax

CURRENT_TIME( [ <fract_sec_precision> ] )

CURRENT_TIME
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Arguments

fract_sec_precision

This optional argument indicates the precision with which to report the time. For example, a value of 3 says to use 3 digits after the decimal point (i.e. to specify the time with a precision of milliseconds).

The default precision is 9 (nanoseconds).

Valid values range from 0 - 9. However, most platforms do not support true nanosecond precision; the precision that you get might be less than the precision you specify. In practice, precision is usually approximately milliseconds (3 digits) at most.

Note

  • Fractional seconds are only displayed if they have been explicitly set in the TIME_OUTPUT_FORMAT parameter for the session (e.g. 'HH24:MI:SS.FF').

Returns

Returns a value of type TIME.

Usage notes

  • The setting of the TIMEZONE parameter affects the return value. The returned time is in the time zone for the session.

  • The display format for times in the output is determined by the TIME_OUTPUT_FORMAT session parameter (default HH24:MI:SS).

  • To comply with the ANSI standard, this function can be called without parentheses in SQL statements.

    However, if you are setting a Snowflake Scripting variable to an expression that calls the function (for example, my_var := <function_name>();), you must include the parentheses. For more information, see the usage notes for context functions.

  • Do not use the returned value for precise time ordering between concurrent queries (processed by the same virtual warehouse) because the queries might be serviced by different compute resources (in the warehouse).

Examples

Set the time output format to HH24:MI:SS.FF, then return the current time with fractional seconds precision first set to 2, then 4, and then the default (9):

ALTER SESSION SET TIME_OUTPUT_FORMAT = 'HH24:MI:SS.FF';

SELECT CURRENT_TIME(2);
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+-----------------+
| CURRENT_TIME(2) |
|-----------------|
| 15:35:51.24     |
+-----------------+

SELECT CURRENT_TIME(4);
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+-----------------+
| CURRENT_TIME(4) |
|-----------------|
| 15:36:53.5570   |
+-----------------+

SELECT CURRENT_TIME;
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+--------------------+
| CURRENT_TIME       |
|--------------------|
| 15:37:29.644000000 |
+--------------------+
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