INTERVAL

Description

• The INTERVAL values are used mainly for date and time calculations. The INTERVAL in expressions represents a temporal interval.

• Temporal intervals are used for certain functions, such as DATE_ADD() and DATE_SUB().

• Temporal arithmetic also can be performed in expressions using INTERVAL together with the + or - operator:

  date + INTERVAL expr unit
  date - INTERVAL expr unit
  

  • INTERVAL expr unit is permitted on either side of the + operator if the expression on the other side is a date or datetime value.
  • For the - operator, INTERVAL expr unit is permitted only on the right side, because it makes no sense to subtract a date or datetime value from an interval.

Syntax

> INTERVAL (expr,unit)

Arguments

Arguments	Description
expr	represents a quantity.
unit	the unit for interpreting the quantity; it is a specifier such as HOUR, DAY, or WEEK.

Note: The INTERVAL keyword and the unit specifier are not case-sensitive.

• Temporal Interval Expression and Unit Arguments

unit Value	Expected expr Format
MICROSECOND	MICROSECONDS
SECOND	SECONDS
MINUTE	MINUTES
HOUR	HOURS
DAY	DAYS
WEEK	WEEKS
MONTH	MONTHS
QUARTER	QUARTERS
YEAR	YEARS
SECOND_MICROSECOND	'SECONDS.MICROSECONDS'
MINUTE_MICROSECOND	'MINUTES:SECONDS.MICROSECONDS'
MINUTE_SECOND	'MINUTES:SECONDS'
HOUR_MICROSECOND	'HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS.MICROSECONDS'
HOUR_SECOND	'HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS'
HOUR_MINUTE	'HOURS:MINUTES'
DAY_MICROSECOND	'DAYS HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS.MICROSECONDS'
DAY_SECOND	'DAYS HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS'
DAY_MINUTE	'DAYS HOURS:MINUTES'
DAY_HOUR	'DAYS HOURS'
YEAR_MONTH	'YEARS-MONTHS'

We permits any punctuation delimiter in the expr format. Those shown in the table are the suggested delimiters.

Examples

Example 1

• Temporal intervals are used for DATE_ADD() and DATE_SUB():

mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB('2018-05-01',INTERVAL 1 YEAR);
+---------------------------------------+
| DATE_SUB(2018-05-01, INTERVAL 1 year) |
+---------------------------------------+
| 2017-05-01                            |
+---------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('2020-12-31 23:59:59', INTERVAL 1 SECOND);
+--------------------------------------------------+
| DATE_ADD(2020-12-31 23:59:59, INTERVAL 1 second) |
+--------------------------------------------------+
| 2021-01-01 00:00:00                              |
+--------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('2018-12-31 23:59:59', INTERVAL 1 DAY);
+-----------------------------------------------+
| DATE_ADD(2018-12-31 23:59:59, INTERVAL 1 day) |
+-----------------------------------------------+
| 2019-01-01 23:59:59                           |
+-----------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('2100-12-31 23:59:59', INTERVAL '1:1' MINUTE_SECOND);
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE_ADD(2100-12-31 23:59:59, INTERVAL 1:1 minute_second) |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| 2101-01-01 00:01:00                                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB('2025-01-01 00:00:00', INTERVAL '1 1:1:1' DAY_SECOND);
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE_SUB(2025-01-01 00:00:00, INTERVAL 1 1:1:1 day_second) |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| 2024-12-30 22:58:59                                        |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1900-01-01 00:00:00', INTERVAL '-1 10' DAY_HOUR);
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE_ADD(1900-01-01 00:00:00, INTERVAL -1 10 day_hour) |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| 1899-12-30 14:00:00                                    |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB('1998-01-02', INTERVAL 31 DAY);
+---------------------------------------+
| DATE_SUB(1998-01-02, INTERVAL 31 day) |
+---------------------------------------+
| 1997-12-02                            |
+---------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1992-12-31 23:59:59.000002', INTERVAL '1.999999' SECOND_MICROSECOND);
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE_ADD(1992-12-31 23:59:59.000002, INTERVAL 1.999999 second_microsecond) |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1993-01-01 00:00:01.000001                                                 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Example 2

• Using INTERVAL together with the + or - operator

mysql> SELECT '2018-12-31 23:59:59' + INTERVAL 1 SECOND;
+-----------------------------------------+
| 2018-12-31 23:59:59 + INTERVAL 1 second |
+-----------------------------------------+
| 2019-01-01 00:00:00                     |
+-----------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT INTERVAL 1 DAY + '2018-12-31';
+-----------------------------+
| INTERVAL 1 day + 2018-12-31 |
+-----------------------------+
| 2019-01-01                  |
+-----------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT '2025-01-01' - INTERVAL 1 SECOND;
+--------------------------------+
| 2025-01-01 - INTERVAL 1 second |
+--------------------------------+
| 2024-12-31 23:59:59            |
+--------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Example 3

If you add to or subtract from a date value something that contains a time part, the result is automatically converted to a datetime value:

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('2023-01-01', INTERVAL 1 DAY);
+--------------------------------------+
| DATE_ADD(2023-01-01, INTERVAL 1 day) |
+--------------------------------------+
| 2023-01-02                           |
+--------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('2023-01-01', INTERVAL 1 HOUR);
+---------------------------------------+
| DATE_ADD(2023-01-01, INTERVAL 1 hour) |
+---------------------------------------+
| 2023-01-01 01:00:00                   |
+---------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

Example 4

If you add MONTH, YEAR_MONTH, or YEAR and the resulting date has a day that is larger than the maximum day for the new month, the day is adjusted to the maximum days in the new month:

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('2019-01-30', INTERVAL 1 MONTH);
+----------------------------------------+
| DATE_ADD(2019-01-30, INTERVAL 1 month) |
+----------------------------------------+
| 2019-02-28                             |
+----------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Example 5

Date arithmetic operations require complete dates and do not work with incomplete dates such as '2016-07-00' or badly malformed dates. Unlike MySQL 8.0, which returns NULL for malformed dates, MatrixOne raises an error:

mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('2016-07-00', INTERVAL 1 DAY);
ERROR 20301 (HY000): invalid input: invalid datetime value 2016-07-00

mysql> SELECT '2005-03-32' + INTERVAL 1 MONTH;
ERROR 20301 (HY000): invalid input: invalid datetime value 2005-03-32