Preface
The Transformation Language
Constants
Operators
Variables
Dates
Functions
- Function Categories
  - Aggregate Functions
  - Aggregate Functions and Nulls
    - Filter Conditions
  - Binary Functions
  - Character Functions
  - Conversion Functions
  - Data Cleansing Functions
  - Date Functions
  - Encoding Functions
  - Financial Functions
  - Numeric Functions
  - Scientific Functions
  - Special Functions
  - String Functions
  - Test Functions
  - Variable Functions
  - Window Functions
- ABORT
- ABS
- ADD_TO_DATE
- AES_DECRYPT
- AES_ENCRYPT
- ASCII
- AVG
- BINARY_COMPARE
- BINARY_CONCAT
- BINARY_LENGTH
- BINARY_SECTION
- CEIL
- CHOOSE
- CHR
- CHRCODE
- COMPRESS
- CONCAT
- CONVERT_BASE
- COS
- COSH
- COUNT
- CRC32
- CUME
- DATE_COMPARE
- DATE_DIFF
- DEC_BASE64
- DEC_HEX
- DECODE
- DECOMPRESS
- EBCDIC_ISO88591
- ENC_BASE64
- ENC_HEX
- ERROR
- EXP
- FIRST
- FLOOR
- FV
- GET_DATE_PART
- GREATEST
- IIF
- IN
- INDEXOF
- INITCAP
- INSTR
- ISNULL
- IS_DATE
- IS_NUMBER
- IS_SPACES
- LAG
- LAST
- LAST_DAY
- LEAD
- LEAST
- LENGTH
- LN
- LOG
- LOOKUP
- LOWER
- LPAD
- LTRIM
- MAKE_DATE_TIME
- MAX (Dates)
- MAX (Numbers)
- MAX (String)
- MD5
- MEDIAN
- METAPHONE
- MIN (Dates)
- MIN (Numbers)
- MIN (String)
- MOD
- MOVINGAVG
- MOVINGSUM
- NPER
- PERCENTILE
- PMT
- POWER
- PV
- RAND
- RATE
- REG_EXTRACT
- REG_MATCH
- REG_REPLACE
- REPLACECHR
- REPLACESTR
- REVERSE
- ROUND (Dates)
- ROUND (Numbers)
- RPAD
- RTRIM
- SETCOUNTVARIABLE
- SET_DATE_PART
- SETMAXVARIABLE
- SETMINVARIABLE
- SETVARIABLE
- SHA256
- SIGN
- SIN
- SINH
- SOUNDEX
- SQRT
- STDDEV
- SUBSTR
- SUM
- SYSTIMESTAMP
- TAN
- TANH
- TIME_RANGE
- TO_BIGINT
- TO_CHAR (Dates)
- TO_CHAR (Numbers)
- TO_DATE
- TO_DECIMAL
- TO_FLOAT
- TO_INTEGER
- TRUNC (Dates)
- TRUNC (Numbers)
- UPPER
- VARIANCE
Creating Custom Functions
Custom Function API Reference

Transformation Language Reference

10.5
- 10.5.9
- 10.5.8
- 10.5.7
- 10.5.6
- 10.5.1
- 10.4.0

Back Next

DATE_COMPARE

Returns an integer indicating which of two dates is earlier. DATE_COMPARE returns an integer value rather than a date value.

Syntax

DATE_COMPARE( date1, date2 )

The following table describes the arguments for this command:

Argument	Required/ Optional	Description
date1	Required	Date/Time datatype. The first date you want to compare. You can enter any valid transformation expression as long as it evaluates to a date.
date2	Required	Date/Time datatype. The second date you want to compare. You can enter any valid transformation expression as long as it evaluates to a date.

Return Value

-1 if the first date is earlier.

0 if the two dates are equal.

1 if the second date is earlier.

NULL if one of the date values is NULL.

Example

The following expression compares each date in the DATE_PROMISED and DATE_SHIPPED ports, and returns an integer indicating which date is earlier:

DATE_COMPARE( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED )

DATE_PROMISED	DATE_SHIPPED	RETURN VALUE
Jan 1 1997	Jan 13 1997	-1
Feb 1 1997	Feb 1 1997	0
Dec 22 1997	Dec 15 1997	1
Feb 29 1996	Apr 12 1996	-1 (Leap year)
NULL	Jan 6 1997	NULL
Jan 13 1997	NULL	NULL

Rename Saved Search

Table of Contents

Transformation Language Reference

Transformation Language Reference

DATE_COMPARE

DATE_COMPARE

Syntax

Return Value

Example