CURRENT [function]

The CURRENT function operator returns the current system date and time.

Syntax

CURRENT [ qual1 TO qual2 [(scale)] ]

  1. qual1 and qual2 define the date time qualifiers. The qualifiers can be a combination of YEAR, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND and FRACTION[(scale)] as in the definition of a DATETIME type.

  2. scale defines the precision of the fractional part of a second, from 1 to 5 digits:
    • FRACTION(1) : 10-1 s (deciseconds)
    • FRACTION(2) : 10-2 s (centiseconds)
    • FRACTION(3) : 10-3 s (milliseconds)
    • FRACTION(4) : 10-4 s (100 microseconds)
    • FRACTION(5) : 10-5 s (10 microseconds)

Usage

The CURRENT operator returns the system date/time in the current local timezone.

This operator can be used to assign the current system date and time to a DATETIME variable.

Use optional datetime qualifiers to specify the precision of the returned value. The possible qualifiers are the same as in a DATETIME data type definition.

If the datetime qualifiers are not specified after the CURRENT keyword, the precision defaults to YEAR TO FRACTION(3).

Example

MAIN
    DISPLAY CURRENT -- defaults to YEAR TO FRACTION(3)
    DISPLAY CURRENT YEAR TO DAY
    DISPLAY CURRENT HOUR TO SECOND
    DISPLAY CURRENT HOUR TO FRACTION -- defaults to FRACTION(3)
    DISPLAY CURRENT HOUR TO FRACTION(5)
    DISPLAY CURRENT SECOND TO FRACTION(5)
    DISPLAY CURRENT FRACTION TO FRACTION(5)
END MAIN
Output:
2025-03-15 09:49:03.041
2025-03-15
09:49:03
09:49:03.042
09:49:03.04201
03.04201
.04202