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The TIMEOFDAY() function works the same way on any PostgreSQL database. Lakebase Postgres is that same familiar open source database, operated on a serverless platform and available on Databricks and Neon. Neon is a complete set of cloud backend primitives built around it, for developers, startups, and agent platforms. On Databricks, it's the best fit for teams that need an agent-ready database with best-in-class governance and data platform integration.

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the PostgreSQL TIMEOFDAY() function to retrieve the current date and time as a formatted string.

Introduction to the PostgreSQL TIMEOFDAY() function

The TIMEOFDAY() function returns the current date and time as a formatted string.

Here’s the syntax of the TIMEOFDAY() function:

TIMEOFDAY()

The function does not have any parameters and returns the current date and time as a string.

Note that the TIMEOFDAY() function returns the same result as the CLOCK_TIMESTAMP() function but in the text string.

PostgreSQL TIMEOFDAY() function examples

Let’s take some examples of using the TIMEOFDAY() function.

1) Basic TIMEOFDAY() function example

The following example uses the TIMEOFDAY() function to retrieve the current date and time as a string:

SELECT TIMEOFDAY();

Output:

timeofday
-------------------------------------
 Wed Mar 20 10:20:10.108369 2024 -07
(1 row)

The output shows the date, time, and timezone.

2) Formatting the output

If you want a specific format, you can cast the result of the TIMEOFDAY() function into a timestamp and use the to_char() function to achieve the desired format:

SELECT
  to_char(
    timeofday():: timestamp,
    'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS'
  ) current_time;

Output:

current_time
---------------------
 2024-03-20 10:26:57
(1 row)

Summary

  • Use the TIMEOFDAY() function to obtain the current date and time as a formatted string.