INTERVAL

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The INTERVAL data type stores a value that represents a span of time.

Aliases

CockroachDB supports using uninterpreted string literals in contexts where an INTERVAL value is otherwise expected.

Syntax

A constant value of type INTERVAL can be expressed using an interpreted literal, or a string literal annotated with type INTERVAL or coerced to type INTERVAL.

INTERVAL constants can be expressed using the following formats:

CockroachDB also supports using uninterpreted string literals in contexts where an INTERVAL value is otherwise expected.

Details on SQL Standard input

Without a precision or duration field specified, expect the following behavior from SQL Standard input (Y-M D H:M:S):

• Using a single value defines seconds only.
  For example, INTERVAL '1' is parsed as 00:00:01.
• Using two colon-separated integers defines hours and minutes.
  For example, INTERVAL '1:2' is parsed as 01:02:00.
• If the second of two colon-separated values is a float, the interval is parsed as minutes and seconds (M:S.fff).
  For example, INTERVAL '1:2.345' is parsed as 00:01:02.345.
• If the first element of the input directly preceding a colon is specified as a float, the interval is parsed as D H:M.
  For example, INTERVAL '1.2:03:04' is parsed as 1 day 07:52:00.
• If the day is omitted, no day value will be stored.
  For example, INTERVAL '1-2 3:4:5' is parsed as 1 year 2 mons 03:04:05, and INTERVAL 1-2 is parsed as 1 year 2 mons.
• If the year and month are omitted, no year or month value will be stored.
  For example, INTERVAL '1 2:3:4 is parsed as 1 day 02:03:04.

Size

An INTERVAL column supports values up to 24 bytes in width, but the total storage size is likely to be larger due to CockroachDB metadata. Intervals are stored internally as months, days, and microseconds.

Precision

New in v20.1: CockroachDB supports precision levels from 0 (seconds) to 6 (microseconds) for INTERVAL values. Precision in time values specifies the number of fractional digits retained in the seconds field. By default, INTERVAL values have a precision of 6 (microseconds).

For example, specifying an INTERVAL value as INTERVAL(3) truncates the time precision to milliseconds.

Duration fields

New in v20.1: CockroachDB supports duration fields for INTERVAL values. You can specify SECOND, MINUTE, HOUR, or DAY units of duration in the form INTERVAL ... <unit> or INTERVAL ... <unit> TO <unit>.

Specifying a single duration field truncates the interval at the unit specified, defining the interval as having the duration field unit as its least-significant unit. For example, INTERVAL '1 2:03:04' HOUR truncates the input to an exact hour, and parses the interval as 1 day 02:00:00.

A single duration field can also resolve ambiguity in the input. For example, INTERVAL '1' parses the interval as 00:00:01 (1 second). INTERVAL '1' MINUTE parses the interval as 00:01:00 (1 minute).

If the interval input is ambiguous, specifying two duration fields stores the interval in the units specified. For example, INTERVAL '02:03' MINUTE TO SECOND parses the interval as 00:02:03 (in minutes and seconds). Without MINUTE TO SECOND, the input would be parsed as 02:03:00 (in hours and minutes).

Example

> CREATE TABLE intervals (a INT PRIMARY KEY, b INTERVAL);

> SHOW COLUMNS FROM intervals;

  column_name | data_type | is_nullable | column_default | generation_expression |  indices  | is_hidden
--------------+-----------+-------------+----------------+-----------------------+-----------+------------
  a           | INT8      |    false    | NULL           |                       | {primary} |   false
  b           | INTERVAL  |    true     | NULL           |                       | {}        |   false
(2 rows)

> INSERT INTO
    intervals
    VALUES (1, INTERVAL '1 year 2 months 3 days 4 hours 5 minutes 6 seconds'),
           (2, INTERVAL '1-2 3 4:5:6'),
           (3, '1-2 3 4:5:6');

> SELECT * FROM intervals;

  a |               b
----+--------------------------------
  1 | 1 year 2 mons 3 days 04:05:06
  2 | 1 year 2 mons 3 days 04:05:06
  3 | 1 year 2 mons 3 days 04:05:06
(3 rows)

Supported casting and conversion

INTERVAL values can be cast to any of the following data types:

See also

Data Types

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