# Sql server, date and time

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sql-server-date-and-time/59535>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [May 3, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sql-server-date-and-time/59535 "2006-05-03T22:44:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![typej](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@typej](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/typej)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sql-server-date-and-time/59535/1 "2006-05-03T22:44:56Z")

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Hey there all,

Is there some way to tell rails or sql server to ignore the time in a  
datetime field when doing a comparison?

For example, if I do something like

select \* from users where registration\_date = ?, @date

where @date might equal some user input like ‘03/14/2006’

The result is nothing returned, because in my tables the datetime  
field looks like this:

3/14/2006 4:04:00 PM

I would like to tell rails or sql server to ignore the time, so that  
these rows will be returned as well. Anyone with any ideas? I’m sure  
this is something trivial and I’m just not seeing it.

Thanks alot!  
Jin

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**Author:** ![typej](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@typej](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/typej)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sql-server-date-and-time/59535/2 "2006-05-03T23:34:46Z")

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Hello Jin,

> Is there some way to tell rails or sql server to ignore the time in a  
> datetime field when doing a comparison?
> 
> For example, if I do something like
> 
> select \* from users where registration\_date = ?, @date
> 
> where @date might equal some user input like ‘03/14/2006’

Check your SQL Server manual, there must be a way  
to convert a datetime to a date. In MySQL, sth like :

select \* from users where date(created\_at)=“2006-05-03”

is possible.

РJean-Fran̤ois.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![typej](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@typej](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/typej)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sql-server-date-and-time/59535/3 "2006-05-04T06:43:50Z")

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Hey thanks for the tip Jean. For those that care/want to know, I found  
out the problem, its the way SQL Server handles datetime variables.  
Unlike oracle and many other databases, there isnt a to\_date or date()  
function that extracts just the date only. The two ways around this  
are to convert it to string (with time removed) or to do a BETWEEN  
mm/dd/yy 00:00:00 (midnight) and mm/dd/yy 12:59:59 which covers the  
entire day.

Jin