GETDATE() doesn't return the milliseconds and minutes

Question

declare @Date date
SET   @Date =GETDATE()
print @date

Declaration gives me the result : 2013-08-04

But I need also milliseconds and minutes.

How I can achieve this?

Answer 1

Declare as datetime2 rather than date:

declare @Date datetime2
            --^^^^^^^^^
SET   @Date = SYSDATETIME()
print @date

Ref.: Data Types (Transact-SQL)

Updated: Replaced GETDATE() with SYSDATETIME() as mentioned by @Martin Smith

Answer 2

getdate() has minutes and even millisenconds in it. you can see the different styles here.

if you run this query:

DECLARE @now datetime
SET @now = GETDATE()
select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 0) as output, 0 as style 
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 1), 1
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 2), 2
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 3), 3
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 4), 4
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 5), 5
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 6), 6
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 7), 7
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 8), 8
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 9), 9
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 10), 10
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 11), 11
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 12), 12
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 13), 13
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 14), 14
--15 to 19 not valid
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 20), 20
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 21), 21
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 22), 22
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 23), 23
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 24), 24
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 25), 25
--26 to 99 not valid
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 100), 100
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 101), 101
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 102), 102
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 103), 103
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 104), 104
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 105), 105
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 106), 106
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 107), 107
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 108), 108
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 109), 109
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 110), 110
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 111), 111
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 112), 112
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 113), 113
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 114), 114
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 120), 120
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 121), 121
--122 to 125 not valid
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 126), 126
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 127), 127
--128, 129 not valid
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 130), 130
union select convert(nvarchar(50), @now, 131), 131
--132 not valid
order BY style

you get these results - 42 in total:

the datetime time is shown in each of the styles from the query above

Have a look at style 109. it shows minutes and millisenconds as well as the date and time.

if I run the following:

print 'the date and time now is: ' + convert(nvarchar(50), getdate(),109)

I get exactly that - printed!