How to Get Yesterday’s Date in T-SQL

Problem

You would like to display yesterday's date (without time) in an SQL Server database.

Solution

SELECT DATEADD(day, -1, CAST(GETDATE() AS date)) AS YesterdayDate;

Assuming today is 2020-09-24, the result is:

Discussion

To get yesterday's date, you need to subtract one day from today's date. Use GETDATE() to get today's date (the type is datetime) and cast it to date. In SQL Server, you can subtract or add any number of days using the DATEADD() function.

The DATEADD() function takes three arguments: datepart, number, and date. Here, the value of datepart is day, because the unit of time you want to subtract is day. The second argument is -1 (you subtract 1 day, which is the same as adding -1 day). The third argument is today's date—the date from which you want to subtract.

Of course, you can go back by any interval of time just as easily. Here's an example:

SELECT DATEADD(month, -5, CAST(GETDATE() AS date));

An interval of time can also be added to a date. So, here’s a way if you want to get tomorrow's date:

SELECT DATEADD(day, 1, CAST(GETDATE() AS date)) AS TomorrowDate;