SQL • LESSON 36

DATE_TRUNC

Learn how to group timestamps into meaningful time periods.

🔴 Advanced⏱ 3 Minutes⭐ 560 XP
🤔 THE QUESTION

How can we group timestamp data by month, day, or another time period?

💡 WHAT IS IT?

DATE_TRUNC truncates a date or timestamp to a specified time boundary such as a day, week, month, or year.

🎯 WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

It is useful for time-based analytics, monthly reports, weekly metrics, daily aggregations, dashboards, and grouping events into consistent time periods.

💻 EXAMPLE
SELECT
DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date)
AS order_month,
COUNT(*) AS orders
FROM orders
GROUP BY
DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date);

Mission Brief

Practice truncating order timestamps to monthly boundaries and grouping orders by month.

Objectives

  • DATE_TRUNC
  • Timestamps
  • MONTH
  • GROUP BY
  • COUNT