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CURRENT_TIME

Current server time in the session time zone, with time zone information

Type

TIME WITH TIME ZONE

Caution

Data type changed in Firebird 4.0 from TIME WITHOUT TIME ZONE to TIME WITH TIME ZONE.Use [fblangref50-contextvars-localtime] to obtain TIME WITHOUT TIME ZONE.

Syntax
CURRENT_TIME [ (<precision>) ]

<precision> ::= 0 | 1 | 2 | 3

The optional precision argument is not supported in ESQL.

Table 1. CURRENT_TIME Parameter
Parameter Description

precision

Precision.The default value is 0.Not supported in ESQL

The default is 0 decimals, i.e. seconds precision.

Note
  • CURRENT_TIME has a default precision of 0 decimals, where CURRENT_TIMESTAMP has a default precision of 3 decimals.As a result, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP is not the exact sum of CURRENT_DATE and CURRENT_TIME, unless you explicitly specify a precision (i.e. CURRENT_TIME(3) or CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(0)).

  • Within a PSQL module (procedure, trigger or executable block), the value of CURRENT_TIME will remain constant every time it is read.If multiple modules call or trigger each other, the value will remain constant throughout the duration of the outermost module.If you need a progressing value in PSQL (e.g. to measure time intervals), use [fblangref50-contextvars-now].

Warning
CURRENT_TIME and Firebird Time Zone Support

Firebird 4.0 added support for time zones.As part of this support, an incompatibility with the CURRENT_TIME expression was introduced compared to previous version.

Since Firebird 4.0, CURRENT_TIME returns the TIME WITH TIME ZONE type.In order for your queries to be compatible with database code of Firebird 4.0 and higher, Firebird 3.0.4 and Firebird 2.5.9 introduced the [fblangref50-contextvars-localtime] expression.In Firebird 3.0.4 and Firebird 2.5.9, LOCALTIME is a synonym for CURRENT_TIME.

In Firebird 5.0, LOCALTIME returns TIME [WITHOUT TIME ZONE]), while CURRENT_TIME returns TIME WITH TIME ZONE.

Examples
select current_time from rdb$database
-- returns e.g. 14:20:19.0000

select current_time(2) from rdb$database
-- returns e.g. 14:20:23.1200

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

Current server date and time in the session time zone, with time zone information

Type

TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE

Caution

Data type changed in Firebird 4.0 from TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME ZONE to TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE.Use [fblangref50-contextvars-localtimestamp] to obtain TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME ZONE.

Syntax
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP [ (<precision>) ]

<precision> ::= 0 | 1 | 2 | 3

The optional precision argument is not supported in ESQL.

Table 1. CURRENT_TIMESTAMP Parameter
Parameter Description

precision

Precision.The default value is 3.Not supported in ESQL

The default is 3 decimals, i.e. milliseconds precision.

Note
  • The default precision of CURRENT_TIME is 0 decimals, so CURRENT_TIMESTAMP is not the exact sum of CURRENT_DATE and CURRENT_TIME, unless you explicitly specify a precision (i.e. CURRENT_TIME(3) or CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(0)).

  • Within a PSQL module (procedure, trigger or executable block), the value of CURRENT_TIMESTAMP will remain constant every time it is read.If multiple modules call or trigger each other, the value will remain constant throughout the duration of the outermost module.If you need a progressing value in PSQL (e.g. to measure time intervals), use [fblangref50-contextvars-now].

Warning
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP and Firebird Time Zone Support

Firebird 4.0 added support for time zones.As part of this support, an incompatibility with the CURRENT_TIMESTAMP expression was introduced compared to previous versions.

Since Firebird 4.0, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP returns the TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE type.In order for your queries to be compatible with database code of Firebird 4.0 and higher, Firebird 3.0.4 and Firebird 2.5.9 introduced the [fblangref50-contextvars-localtimestamp] expression.In Firebird 3.0.4 and Firebird 2.5.9, LOCALTIMESTAMP is a synonym for CURRENT_TIMESTAMP.

In Firebird 5.0, LOCALTIMESTAMP returns TIMESTAMP [WITHOUT TIME ZONE], while CURRENT_TIMESTAMP returns TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE.

Examples
select current_timestamp from rdb$database
-- returns e.g. 2008-08-13 14:20:19.6170

select current_timestamp(2) from rdb$database
-- returns e.g. 2008-08-13 14:20:23.1200

CURRENT_TRANSACTION

Unique identifier of the current transaction

Type

BIGINT

Syntax
CURRENT_TRANSACTION

The transaction identifier is derived from a counter on the database header page, which is incremented for each new transaction.When a database is restored, this counter is reset to zero.

Examples
select current_transaction from rdb$database

New.Txn_ID = current_transaction;

CURRENT_USER

Name of the user of the current connection

Type

VARCHAR(63)

Syntax
CURRENT_USER

CURRENT_USER is equivalent to [fblangref50-contextvars-user].

Example
create trigger bi_customers for customers before insert as
begin
    New.added_by  = CURRENT_USER;
    New.purchases = 0;
end