Question

select now() will output 2012-11-20 09:05:38.

select substr(now(), locate(' ', now())) will output 09:05:38.

How can I obtain this result: 2012-11-20 instead? Been there, done that but can’t achieve it yet. Forgive me for my lacking but please help me. Thanks!

Answer 1

Not an specific answer to your question about substrings, but if I wanted the DATE part of NOW() I would do:

SELECT DATE(NOW());

Or for the time portion

SELECT TIME(NOW());

For actual string purposes though you can use:

SUBSTR('SOME STRING', 0, LOCATE(' ', 'SOME STRING')) <- returns from position zero for a length of 4 characters

Or

SUBSTRING_INDEX('SOME STRING', ' ', 1) <- gives 'SOME'
SUBSTRING_INDEX('SOME STRING', ' ', -1) <- gives 'STRING'