SQL Server - Convert date field to UTC

Question

I have recently updated my system to record date/times as UTC as previously they were storing as local time.

I now need to convert all the local stored date/times to

Answer 1

We can convert ServerZone DateTime to UTC and UTC to ServerZone DateTime

Simply run the following scripts to understand the conversion then modify as what you need

--Get Server's TimeZone
DECLARE @ServerTimeZone VARCHAR(50)
EXEC MASTER.dbo.xp_regread 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
'SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation',
'TimeZoneKeyName',@ServerTimeZone OUT

-- ServerZone to UTC DATETIME
DECLARE @CurrentServerZoneDateTime DATETIME = GETDATE()
DECLARE @UTCDateTime  DATETIME =  @CurrentServerZoneDateTime AT TIME ZONE @ServerTimeZone AT TIME ZONE 'UTC' 
--(OR)
--DECLARE @UTCDateTime  DATETIME = GETUTCDATE()
SELECT @CurrentServerZoneDateTime AS CURRENTZONEDATE,@UTCDateTime AS UTCDATE

-- UTC to ServerZone DATETIME
SET @CurrentServerZoneDateTime = @UTCDateTime AT TIME ZONE 'UTC' AT TIME ZONE @ServerTimeZone
SELECT @UTCDateTime AS UTCDATE,@CurrentServerZoneDateTime AS CURRENTZONEDATE

Note: This(AT TIME ZONE) working on only SQL Server 2016+ and this advantage is automatically considering Daylight while converting to particular Time zone

Answer 2

I do not believe the above code will work. The reason is that it depends upon the difference between the current date in local and UTC times. For example, here in California we are now in PDT (Pacific Daylight Time); the difference between this time and UTC is 7 hours. The code provided will, if run now, add 7 hours to every date which is desired to be converted. But if a historical stored date, or a date in the future, is converted, and that date is not during daylight savings time, it will still add 7, when the correct offset is 8. Bottom line: you cannot convert date/times properly between time zones (including UTC, which does not obey daylight savings time) by only looking at the current date. You must consider the date itself that you are converting, as to whether daylight time was in force on that date. Furthermore, the dates at which daylight and standard times change themselves have changed (George Bush changed the dates during his administration for the USA!). In other words, any solution which even references getdate() or getutcdate() does not work. It must parse the actual date to be converted.

Answer 3

Here's my quick and dirty version. I know all of my dates were using the US Eastern time zone. You can change the offset or otherwise make it smarter as you need to. I was doing a one-time migration so this was Good Enough.

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[ConvertToUtc]
(
    @date datetime
)
RETURNS DATETIME
AS
BEGIN
    -- Declare the return variable here
    DECLARE @utcDate datetime;
    DECLARE @offset int;

    SET @offset = (SELECT CASE WHEN 
                                    @date BETWEEN '1987-04-05 02:00 AM' AND '1987-10-25 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1988-04-03 02:00 AM' AND '1988-10-30 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1989-04-02 02:00 AM' AND '1989-10-29 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1990-04-01 02:00 AM' AND '1990-10-28 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1991-04-07 02:00 AM' AND '1991-10-27 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1992-04-05 02:00 AM' AND '1992-10-25 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1993-04-04 02:00 AM' AND '1993-10-31 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1994-04-03 02:00 AM' AND '1994-10-30 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1995-04-02 02:00 AM' AND '1995-10-29 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1996-04-07 02:00 AM' AND '1996-10-27 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1997-04-06 02:00 AM' AND '1997-10-26 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1998-04-05 02:00 AM' AND '1998-10-25 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '1999-04-04 02:00 AM' AND '1999-10-31 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2000-04-02 02:00 AM' AND '2000-10-29 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2001-04-01 02:00 AM' AND '2001-10-28 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2002-04-07 02:00 AM' AND '2002-10-27 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2003-04-06 02:00 AM' AND '2003-10-26 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2004-04-04 02:00 AM' AND '2004-10-31 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2005-04-03 02:00 AM' AND '2005-10-30 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2006-04-02 02:00 AM' AND '2006-10-29 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2007-03-11 02:00 AM' AND '2007-11-04 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2008-03-09 02:00 AM' AND '2008-11-02 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2009-03-08 02:00 AM' AND '2009-11-01 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2010-03-14 02:00 AM' AND '2010-11-07 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2011-03-13 02:00 AM' AND '2011-11-06 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2012-03-11 02:00 AM' AND '2012-11-04 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2013-03-10 02:00 AM' AND '2013-11-03 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2014-03-09 02:00 AM' AND '2014-11-02 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2015-03-08 02:00 AM' AND '2015-11-01 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2016-03-13 02:00 AM' AND '2016-11-06 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2017-03-12 02:00 AM' AND '2017-11-05 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2018-03-11 02:00 AM' AND '2018-11-04 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2019-03-10 02:00 AM' AND '2019-11-03 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2020-03-08 02:00 AM' AND '2020-11-01 02:00 AM'
                                 OR @date BETWEEN '2021-03-14 02:00 AM' AND '2021-11-07 02:00 AM'
                               THEN 4
                               ELSE 5 END);

    SELECT @utcDate = DATEADD(hh, @offset, @date)
    RETURN @utcDate;

END

Answer 4

If you have to convert dates other than today to different timezones you have to deal with daylight savings. I wanted a solution that could be done without worrying about database version, without using stored functions and something that could easily be ported to Oracle.

I think Warren is on the right track with getting the correct dates for daylight time, but to make it more useful for multiple time zone and different rules for countries and even the rule that changed in the US between 2006 and 2007, here a variation on the above solution. Notice that this not only has us time zones, but also central Europe. Central Europe follow the last sunday of april and last sunday of october. You will also notice that the US in 2006 follows the old first sunday in april, last sunday in october rule.

This SQL code may look a little ugly, but just copy and paste it into SQL Server and try it. Notice there are 3 section for years, timezones and rules. If you want another year, just add it to the year union. Same for another time zone or rule.

select yr, zone, standard, daylight, rulename, strule, edrule, yrstart, yrend,
    dateadd(day, (stdowref + stweekadd), stmonthref) dstlow,
    dateadd(day, (eddowref + edweekadd), edmonthref)  dsthigh
from (
  select yrs.yr, z.zone, z.standard, z.daylight, z.rulename, r.strule, r.edrule, 
    yrs.yr + '-01-01 00:00:00' yrstart,
    yrs.yr + '-12-31 23:59:59' yrend,
    yrs.yr + r.stdtpart + ' ' + r.cngtime stmonthref,
    yrs.yr + r.eddtpart + ' ' + r.cngtime edmonthref,
    case when r.strule in ('1', '2', '3') then case when datepart(dw, yrs.yr + r.stdtpart) = '1' then 0 else 8 - datepart(dw, yrs.yr + r.stdtpart) end
    else (datepart(dw, yrs.yr + r.stdtpart) - 1) * -1 end stdowref,
    case when r.edrule in ('1', '2', '3') then case when datepart(dw, yrs.yr + r.eddtpart) = '1' then 0 else 8 - datepart(dw, yrs.yr + r.eddtpart) end
    else (datepart(dw, yrs.yr + r.eddtpart) - 1) * -1 end eddowref,
    datename(dw, yrs.yr + r.stdtpart) stdow,
    datename(dw, yrs.yr + r.eddtpart) eddow,
    case when r.strule in ('1', '2', '3') then (7 * CAST(r.strule AS Integer)) - 7 else 0 end stweekadd,
    case when r.edrule in ('1', '2', '3') then (7 * CAST(r.edrule AS Integer)) - 7 else 0 end edweekadd
from (
    select '2005' yr union select '2006' yr -- old us rules
    UNION select '2007' yr UNION select '2008' yr UNION select '2009' yr UNION select '2010' yr UNION select '2011' yr
    UNION select '2012' yr UNION select '2013' yr UNION select '2014' yr UNION select '2015' yr UNION select '2016' yr
    UNION select '2017' yr UNION select '2018' yr UNION select '2019' yr UNION select '2020' yr UNION select '2021' yr
    UNION select '2022' yr UNION select '2023' yr UNION select '2024' yr UNION select '2025' yr UNION select '2026' yr
) yrs
cross join (
    SELECT 'ET' zone, '-05:00' standard, '-04:00' daylight, 'US' rulename
    UNION SELECT 'CT' zone, '-06:00' standard, '-05:00' daylight, 'US' rulename
    UNION SELECT 'MT' zone, '-07:00' standard, '-06:00' daylight, 'US' rulename
    UNION SELECT 'PT' zone, '-08:00' standard, '-07:00' daylight, 'US' rulename
    UNION SELECT 'CET' zone, '+01:00' standard, '+02:00' daylight, 'EU' rulename
) z
join (
    SELECT 'US' rulename, '2' strule, '-03-01' stdtpart, '1' edrule, '-11-01' eddtpart, 2007 firstyr, 2099 lastyr, '02:00:00' cngtime
    UNION SELECT 'US' rulename, '1' strule, '-04-01' stdtpart, 'L' edrule, '-10-31' eddtpart, 1900 firstyr, 2006 lastyr, '02:00:00' cngtime
    UNION SELECT  'EU' rulename, 'L' strule, '-03-31' stdtpart, 'L' edrule, '-10-31' eddtpart, 1900 firstyr, 2099 lastyr, '01:00:00' cngtime
) r on r.rulename = z.rulename
    and datepart(year, yrs.yr) between firstyr and lastyr
) dstdates

For the rules, use 1, 2, 3 or L for first, second, third or last sunday. The date part gives the month and depending on the rule, the first day of the month or the last day of the month for rule type L.

I put the above query into a view. Now, anytime I want a date with the time zone offset or converted to UTC time, I just join to this view and select get the date in the date format. Instead of datetime, I converted these to datetimeoffset.

select createdon, dst.zone
    , case when createdon >= dstlow and createdon < dsthigh then dst.daylight else dst.standard end pacificoffsettime
    , TODATETIMEOFFSET(createdon, case when createdon >= dstlow and createdon < dsthigh then dst.daylight else dst.standard end) pacifictime
    , SWITCHOFFSET(TODATETIMEOFFSET(createdon, case when createdon >= dstlow and createdon < dsthigh then dst.daylight else dst.standard end), '+00:00')  utctime
from (select '2014-01-01 12:00:00' createdon union select '2014-06-01 12:00:00' createdon) photos
left join US_DAYLIGHT_DATES dst on createdon between yrstart and yrend and zone = 'PT'

Answer 5

The following should work as it calculates difference between DATE and UTCDATE for the server you are running and uses that offset to calculate the UTC equivalent of any date you pass to it. In my example, I am trying to convert UTC equivalent for '1-nov-2012 06:00' in Adelaide, Australia where UTC offset is -630 minutes, which when added to any date will result in UTC equivalent of any local date.

select DATEADD(MINUTE, DATEDIFF(MINUTE, GETDATE(), GETUTCDATE()), '1-nov-2012 06:00')

Answer 6

If they're all local to you, then here's the offset:

SELECT GETDATE() AS CurrentTime, GETUTCDATE() AS UTCTime

and you should be able to update all the data using:

UPDATE SomeTable
   SET DateTimeStamp = DATEADD(hh, DATEDIFF(hh, GETDATE(), GETUTCDATE()), DateTimeStamp)

Would that work, or am I missing another angle of this problem?