CURRENT_TIME() function in MySQL

CURRENT_TIME() function in MySQL is used to check the current time. It returns the current time as a value in ‘hh:mm:ss’ or hhmmss format, depending on whether the function is used in string or numeric context. Syntax :

CURRENT_TIME
    OR
CURRENT_TIME(precision)

Parameter : This method accepts one parameter.

• precision – It specifies the returned fractional seconds precision. If the user omits the precision argument, the result will exclude precision.

Returns : It returns the current time. Example-1 : Getting the current time using CURRENT_TIME Function.

SELECT CURRENT_TIME as Curr_time ;

Output :

Curr_time
14:03:29

Example-2 : Getting the current time using CURRENT_TIME Function with precision is set to 5.

SELECT CURRENT_TIME(5) as Curr_time ;

Output :

Curr_time
14:07:10.02423

Example-3 : Getting the current time using CURRENT_TIME Function in numeric format.

SELECT CURRENT_TIME + 0  as Curr_time ;

Output :

Curr_time
140917

Example-4 : The CURRENT_TIME function can be used to set value of columns. To demonstrate create a table named DeliveryDetails.

CREATE TABLE DeliveryDetails (
DeliveryId INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
ProductId INT NOT NULL,
ProductName VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
Delivered_At TIME NOT NULL,
Delivered_On DATE NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(DeliveryId)
);

Here, we will use CURRENT_DATE and CURRENT_TIME function when a delivery will be completed. The value in Delivered_At column will be the value given by CURRENT_TIME and value in Delivered_On column will be the value given by CURRENT_DATE Function.

INSERT INTO  
DeliveryDetails(ProductId, ProductName, Delivered_At, Delivered_On)
VALUES
(101, 'Let Us C', CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_DATE);

Now, checking the DeliveryDetails table :

SELECT * FROM DeliveryDetails;

Output :

DeliveryId	ProductId	ProductName	Delivered_At	Delivered_On
1	101	Let Us C	14:41:59	2020-10-01

It is important to note that the CURRENT_TIME() function returns the time in the time zone of the MySQL server. If you need to retrieve the current time in a different time zone, you can use the CONVERT_TZ() function to convert the time to the desired time zone.

Additionally, it is also worth noting that the CURRENT_TIME() function can be used as a default value for a column in a table. For example, if you want to set the default value of a time column to the current time, you can use the following syntax:

Example-5 :

CREATE TABLE my_table (
  id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  name VARCHAR(255),
  created_at TIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIME(),
  PRIMARY KEY (id)
);

In this example, the created_at column is set to have a default value of the current time using 
the CURRENT_TIME() function.

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