What Data Type Is Date in SQLite?

The Date data type in SQLite is used to store date and time values. It allows you to store dates in a format that can be easily manipulated and queried.

In SQLite, the Date data type is represented as a string in the format “YYYY-MM-DD”. This format follows the ISO 8601 standard, which is widely accepted and ensures consistency across different systems.

When you create a table in SQLite and define a column as the Date data type, you can insert values using the “YYYY-MM-DD” format. For example:


CREATE TABLE events (
event_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
event_date DATE
);

INSERT INTO events (event_id, event_date)
VALUES (1, '2022-01-01');


SQLite provides various functions to perform operations on dates. For example, you can use the strftime() function to format a date according to your requirements.

The strftime() function takes two arguments: the format string and the date value. Here’s an example:


SELECT strftime('%Y-%m-%d', 'now');


This query will return the current date in the “YYYY-MM-DD” format.

You can also perform calculations on dates using built-in functions such as julianday(). The julianday() function returns the Julian day number for a given date. Here’s an example:


SELECT julianday('2022-01-01') - julianday('2021-12-31');


This query will calculate the number of days between January 1st, 2022, and December 31st, 2021.

When querying dates in SQLite, you can use comparison operators such as “=”, “<", ">“, “<=", ">=”, and “BETWEEN” to filter the results based on specific dates or date ranges. For example:


SELECT * FROM events WHERE event_date >= '2022-01-01';


This query will return all events that occurred on or after January 1st, 2022.

To summarize, the Date data type in SQLite allows you to store and manipulate dates efficiently. By using the appropriate functions and operators, you can perform various operations on dates, such as formatting, calculations, and filtering. This makes SQLite a versatile choice for applications that require date-related functionality.