MySQL TO_DAYS() Function

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the MySQL TO_DAYS() function to return the number of days since year 0 for a given date.

Introduction to the MySQL TO_DAYS() function

The TO_DAYS() function allows you to get the number of days for since year 0 for a given date.

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

TO_DAYS(date)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

In this syntax:

date: The date or datetime value that you want to calculate the number of days since year 0.

The TO_DAYS() function returns an integer that represents the number of days from the year 0 to the given date. It returns NULL if the date argument is NULL.

MySQL TO_DAYS() function examples

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

1) Using the TO_DAYS() function to convert a date to a numeric value

The following example uses the TO_DAYS() function to get the number of days since year zero for the date 2023-10-23:

SELECT TO_DAYS('2023-10-23');Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Output:

+-----------------------+
| TO_DAYS('2023-10-23') |
+-----------------------+
|                739181 |
+-----------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

The result is 739181 which represents the number of days from the year 0 to the specified date 2023-10-23.

2) Using the TO_DAYS() function to calculate the difference in days between two dates

The following example uses the TO_DAYS() function to calculate the difference in days between two dates:

SELECT 
  TO_DAYS('2023-11-15') - TO_DAYS('2023-10-23') AS days_difference;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Output:

+-----------------+
| days_difference |
+-----------------+
|              23 |
+-----------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

The function returns the number of days between two dates, ‘2023-10-23’ and ‘2023-11-15’, which in this case is 23 days.

Summary

Use the TO_DAYS() function to return the number of days since year 0 for a given date.

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