NOW() function to get present date and time from MySQL

SELECT NOW();

Output is 2020-09-17 16:49:41 , this is in the format YYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

Now as a number ( SELECT NOW() + 0 )

20160917165099.000000

NOW() to get todays, yesterday and tomorrow date with time with sample queries

SELECT NOW()- interval 1 HOUR  as One_hour_back,
 NOW() as Present, 
 NOW()+ interval 1 HOUR as One_hour_After

One_hour_back	Present	One_hour_After
2025-10-05 20:54:03	2025-10-05 21:54:03	2025-10-05 22:54:03

Yesterday & Tomorrow date by using NOW()

SELECT NOW()- interval 1 day  as Yesterday, 
NOW() as Today, 
NOW()+ interval 1 day as Tomorrow

Yesterday	Today	Tomorrow
2025-10-04 21:54:03	2025-10-05 21:54:03	2025-10-06 21:54:03

Queries using Date and Time

We may require to collect records of last 5 hours or last 24 hours. Here are some queries to find out records based on date and times.
Queries using Date with time

Last Month , Today and Next Month

SELECT NOW()- interval 1 month  as LastMonth, 
NOW() as Today, 
NOW()+ interval 1 Month as NextMonth

Last Month	Today	Next Month
2025-09-05 21:54:03	2025-10-05 21:54:03	2025-11-05 21:54:03

Matching only date part ( not time ) with datetime field or Now()

We may store date with time in a table in the above mentioned date and time format. However we can compare the date part only ( without time ) to match the records. Example : We may be storing date and time of login of members in a table but want display all the login members of today or a particular date.

SELECT * from table_name WHERE DATE(date_column)='2019-12-26'

To match current or today's date

SELECT * from table_name WHERE DATE(date_column)=CURDATE()

Adding current date and time by default to a record.

While storing a record MySQL can automatically insert date and time in a column. Read more on how to store default date and time in MySQL table here.
SQL Date References Group By in Date field DAYOFWEEK() : Get weekdays like Sunday , Monday .. etc
SQL file using NOW() queries

Subhendu Mohapatra

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NOW() : Current Date & Time in MySQL