@@DATEFIRST (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: 👁 Image
SQL Server 👁 Image
Azure SQL Database 👁 Image
Azure SQL Managed Instance 👁 Image
Azure Synapse Analytics 👁 Image
Analytics Platform System (PDW) 👁 Image
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric 👁 Image
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric 👁 Image
SQL database in Microsoft Fabric

This function returns the current value of SET DATEFIRST, for a specific session.

See Date and Time Data Types and Functions (Transact-SQL) for an overview of all Transact-SQL date and time data types and functions.

👁 Image
Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

@@DATEFIRST 

Return Type

tinyint

Remarks

SET DATEFIRST n specifies the first day (SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, etc.) of the week. The value of n ranges from 1 to 7.

SET DATEFIRST 3;
GO 
SELECT @@DATEFIRST; -- 3 (Wednesday)
GO

For a U.S. English environment, @@DATEFIRST defaults to 7 (Sunday).

This language setting impacts character string interpretation as SQL Server converts those strings to date values for database storage. This setting also impacts display of date values stored in the database. This setting does not impact the storage format of date data.

This example first sets the language to Italian. The statement SELECT @@DATEFIRST; returns 1. The next statement sets the language to is then set to us_english. The final statement, SELECT @@DATEFIRST; returns 7.

SET LANGUAGE Italian; 
GO 
SELECT @@DATEFIRST; 
GO 
SET LANGUAGE us_english; 
GO 
SELECT @@DATEFIRST; 

Examples

This example sets the first day of the week to 5 (Friday), and assumes that the current day, Today, falls on Saturday. The SELECT statement returns the DATEFIRST value and the number of the current day of the week.

SET DATEFIRST 5; 
SELECT @@DATEFIRST AS 'First Day' 
 ,DATEPART(dw, SYSDATETIME()) AS 'Today'; 

Here's the result set.

First Day Today 
---------------- -------------- 
5 2 

Example

Azure Synapse Analytics and Analytics Platform System (PDW)

SELECT @@DATEFIRST; 

Related content

• Date and time data types and functions (Transact-SQL)