How do i check if a sql date is greater than another date?

Checking if one date is greater than another date is a common requirement when working with SQL databases. It is an important part of the data validation process, which allows you to ensure that the data entered into your database is valid and accurate. The following article will explain how to check if a SQL date is greater than another given date.

A key piece of information in this process is understanding the format of the SQL dates. The majority of databases use either dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy as the standard formatting for SQL dates. However, there may be specific databases or instances where an alternative format is used, so you should confirm this before proceeding with any validation checks.

Once you have determined the correct format for your SQL dates, you will need to decide what type of comparison operator to use for checking if one date is greater than another date. The 'greater than' operator (>) can be used to compare two dates and determine whether one date is greater than another. For example; if you wanted to check if a person's birthdate (25/07/1998) was greater than 01/01/1970, you could use the 'greater than' operator as follows:

"WHERE person_birthdate > '01-01-1970';"

This statement would evaluate whether the value stored in person_birthdate was greater than 01-01-1970 and return true or false accordingly. It is important to note that all comparisons should be based on the same format - so numbers must all be compared in their numerical form and dates must all been compared in their standardised form (for example; dd/mm/yyyy).

When dealing with null values however, it's important to understand that 'greater than' comparisons will always return false as nulls do not evaluate any comparison operators like other values do. If a value in your database may contain nulls then it's best practice to first check whether a value exists using "IS NOT NULL" before making any further comparison checks.

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