How to Get the Current Date and Time with Time Zone Offset in PostgreSQL Database: PostgreSQL Operators: CURRENT_TIMESTAMP NOW() Table of Contents Problem: Solution: Discussion: Problem: You’d like to get the current date and time with time zone information from a PostgreSQL database. Solution: We can use either CURRENT_TIMESTAMP or NOW() to get the current date and time with the time zone offset. SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP; Here’s the result of the query: 2023-09-15 13:13:12.118432+02 Discussion: CURRENT_TIMESTAMP returns the current date, time, and time zone offset (using the date, time, and time zone of the machine on which PostgreSQL is running). This is returned as a value in the YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss.nnnnnn+/-tz format. In this format: YYYY is a 4-digit year. MM is a 2-digit month. DD is a 2-digit day of the month. hh is a 2-digit hour. mm is a 2-digit minute. ss is a 2-digit second. nnnnnn defines the number of fractional seconds (i.e. the precision) from 0 to 6. +tz or -tz is the time zone offset, either plus or minus from UTC. The time returned by this function doesn’t change during the execution of a query or a transaction. It is always the time when the transaction started. NOW() is similar to the CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function and returns the same result. The difference is that CURRENT_TIMESTAMP is the SQL standard function, while NOW() is specific to PostgreSQL. SELECT NOW(); Here’s the result of the query: 2023-08-27 12:18:55.324145+02 Note that unlike CURRENT_TIMESTAMP function, the NOW() function requires brackets. However, you can leave them empty and get the default value. CURRENT_TIMESTAMP and NOW() return the timestamptz data type. Recommended courses: SQL Basics in PostgreSQL Common PostgreSQL Functions SQL Practice Set in PostgreSQL Recommended articles: PostgreSQL Cheat Sheet SQL for Data Analysis Cheat Sheet 18 Useful Important SQL Functions to Learn ASAP Performing Calculations on Date- and Time-Related Values 19 PostgreSQL Practice Exercises with Detailed Solutions Best Books for Learning PostgreSQL PostgreSQL Date Functions See also: How to Get the Current Date and Time (No Time Zone) in PostgreSQL How to Get Current Time (No Time Zone) in PostgreSQL How to Get the Current Date in PostgreSQL Subscribe to our newsletter Join our monthly newsletter to be notified about the latest posts. Email address How Do You Write a SELECT Statement in SQL? What Is a Foreign Key in SQL? Enumerate and Explain All the Basic Elements of an SQL Query