How to get the current date time in plsql?

Question

My Code:

DECLARE

BEGIN 

    -- outputs 06-DEC-18
    dbms_output.put_line(sysdate);  

    -- also outputs 18-DEC-06
    dbms_output.put_line(to_date(sysdate,'yyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss')); 
END;
/

The output only shows the date. I want to get also the time.

Answer 1

SYSDATE does have a time component. The first one outputs 06-DEC-18 because your session's parameter NLS_DATE_FORMAT is set to DD-MON-YY.

You have these options.

use TO_CHAR

dbms_output.put_line(TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'yyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss'));

Modify NLS_DATE_FORMAT to show time.

ALTER SESSION SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT='yyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss';
BEGIN
   dbms_output.put_line(SYSDATE); 
END;
/

Or use SYSTIMESTAMP to show higher precision of time like milliseconds.

BEGIN 
    dbms_output.put_line(SYSTIMESTAMP); 
END;
/

Answer 2

You can use SYSTIMESTAMP

SELECT SYSTIMESTAMP
FROM DUAL