NOW

Description

The NOW function returns the current system date and time. It supports an optional parameter that specifies fractional-second precision from 0 to 9.

This function is consistent with MySQL's now function.

Alias

• current_timestamp()

Syntax

NOW([`<precision>`])

Parameters

Parameter	Description
<precision>	Optional integer constant in the range [0, 9]. The default is 0. Values from 0 to 6 return the corresponding DATETIME(p) precision; values from 7 to 9 return TIMESTAMP_NS. The actual clock resolution depends on the operating system and JDK, so unavailable low-order digits are zero.

Return Value

Returns the current system time. For <precision> from 0 to 6, the return type is DATETIME(<precision>). For <precision> from 7 to 9, the return type is TIMESTAMP_NS, displayed with nine fractional digits. The value is constant within one statement.

• If <precision> is negative or greater than 9, the function returns an error.

Examples

---Get current time
select NOW(), NOW(3), NOW(6), NOW(9);
+---------------------+-------------------------+----------------------------+-------------------------------+
| now()               | now(3)                  | now(6)                     | now(9)                        |
+---------------------+-------------------------+----------------------------+-------------------------------+
| 2025-01-23 11:08:35 | 2025-01-23 11:08:35.561 | 2025-01-23 11:08:35.561000 | 2025-01-23 11:08:35.561000000 |
+---------------------+-------------------------+----------------------------+-------------------------------+

--- Invalid precision (out of range, error)
SELECT NOW(10) AS result;
ERROR 1105 (HY000): errCode = 2, detailMessage = Precision of NOW must be between 0 and 9. Precision was set to: 10

select NOW(-1);
ERROR 1105 (HY000): errCode = 2, detailMessage = Precision of NOW must be between 0 and 9. Precision was set to: -1