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SQL | Calculations using dates exercise | Use the DATENAME function and CASE to display full dates
This exercise is provided to allow potential course delegates to choose the correct Wise Owl Microsoft training course, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any format without the prior written consent of Wise Owl.
You can learn how to do this exercise if you attend one of more of the courses listed below!
Software ==> | SQL (198 exercises) |
Version ==> | Any version of SQL Server |
Topic ==> | Calculations using dates (4 exercises) |
Level ==> | Harder than average |
Courses ==> | Introduction to SQL / Fast-track SQL |
- Go into SQL Server Management Studio;
- Open the SQL file you've just unzipped (you can press CTRL + O to do this); then
- Execute this script.
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Create a query to show the full dates for any event:

The first few events, in chronological order.
To get the suffix, you'll need to use a CASE statement based on the day number for any date.
Save this query as Query suffices (marvelling at the wordplay involved in the title), then close it down.
Why do we need to use the CASE function?
What's wrong with this:
SELECT EventName, EventDate, ( (DATENAME(Weekday, EventDate)) + ' ' + (DATENAME(day, EventDate)) + 'th ' + (DATENAME(month, EventDate)) + ' ' + (DATENAME(year, EventDate)) ) AS 'Full Date'
FROM [tblEvent]
ORDER BY EventDate
SELECT EventName
,EventDate
,CASE WHEN DATEPART(day,EventDate) IN (1,21,31) THEN CONCAT(DATENAME(weekday,EventDate),' ',DATEPART(day,EventDate),'st ',DATENAME(month,EventDate),' ',DATEPART(year,EventDate))
WHEN DATEPART(day,EventDate) IN (2,22) THEN CONCAT(DATENAME(weekday,EventDate),' ',DATEPART(day,EventDate),'nd ',DATENAME(month,EventDate),' ',DATEPART(year,EventDate))
WHEN DATEPART(day,EventDate) IN (3,23) THEN CONCAT(DATENAME(weekday,EventDate),' ',DATEPART(day,EventDate),'rd ',DATENAME(month,EventDate),' ',DATEPART(year,EventDate))
ELSE CONCAT(DATENAME(weekday,EventDate),' ',DATEPART(day,EventDate),'th ',DATENAME(month,EventDate),' ',DATEPART(year,EventDate))
END as FullDate
FROM tblEvent
That answer will work for most dates, but won't for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 21st, 22nd and 23rd.