Which function returns the current date in many SQL dialects?

• A. NOW()
• B. SYSDATE
• C. CURRENT_DATE
• D. GETDATE()

Answer: (C)

Understanding how to get today’s date across SQL dialects relies on distinguishing a date value from a full timestamp. CURRENT_DATE is the standard function that returns today as a date value across many systems, giving you year, month, and day without a time portion. This makes it ideal when you only need the calendar date and want portability between databases.

Other functions like NOW() or GETDATE() return a timestamp that includes the current time, which is not what you want if you only need the date. SYSDATE behaves similarly in Oracle-like environments but carries date/time semantics that aren’t the same as a pure date value in all dialects.