[Term Entry] SQL Dates: NOW()

content/sql/concepts/dates/terms/now/now.md

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+---
+Title: 'NOW()'
+Description: 'Returns the current date and time.'
+Subjects:
+  - 'Computer Science'
+  - 'Data Science'
+Tags:
+  - 'Functions'
+  - 'MySQL'
+  - 'PostgreSQL'
+  - 'SQL'
+CatalogContent:
+  - 'learn-sql'
+  - 'paths/analize-data-with-sql'
+---
+
+The **`NOW()`** function returns the current date and time in timestamp format.
+
+> **Note:** In other RDBMS like Microsoft SQL Server or SQLite, the function name or syntax may have slight variations.
+
+## Syntax
+
+```pseudo
+NOW()
+```
+
+**Parameters:**
+
+The `NOW()` function does not take any parameters.
+
+**Return value:**
+
+Returns the current date and time.
+
+## Example 1
+
+In this example, the current date and time is returned using the `NOW()` function:
+
+```sql
+SELECT NOW() as current_timestamp;
+```
+
+The [`AS`](https://www.codecademy.com/resources/docs/sql/commands/as) keyword is used to name the resulting column `current_timestamp` in the output:
+
+| current_timestamp   |
+| ------------------- |
+| 2026-01-20 21:38:45 |
+
+## Example 2
+
+In this example, the following data is given in the `users` table:
+
+| id  | username | email             | created_at          |
+| --- | -------- | ----------------- | ------------------- |
+| 1   | jdoe     | john@example.com  | 2026-01-10 10:00:00 |
+| 2   | asmith   | alice@example.com | 2026-01-15 14:20:00 |
+
+The `NOW()` function is used to capture the exact moment a new account is created in the users table.
+
+```sql
+INSERT INTO users (id, username, email, created_at)
+VALUES (3, 'emiller', 'ethan@example.com', NOW());
+```
+
+The following query verifies the new user created:
+
+```sql
+SELECT * FROM users
+WHERE username = 'emiller';
+```
+
+| id  | username | email             | created_at          |
+| --- | -------- | ----------------- | ------------------- |
+| 3   | emiller  | ethan@example.com | 2026-01-22 14:29:45 |