How to build a conditional SQL query

Question

I'm a little unsure of how to build the following query for a MySQL database.

My table has two int fields, startDate and endDate that hold UNIX timestamps. endDate can be NULL which implies no ending date.

I want to get all records for which the current timestamp falls within the range.

In the case that endDate has a value, I can do:

SELECT * FROM table WHERE startDate < NOW() AND endDate > NOW()

and in the case that endDate is NULL, I can do:

SELECT * FROM table WHEREstartDate< NOW()

My question is, how I can combine the above two queries into one, single conditional query?

Branko Dimitrijevic · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-22 22:10:51Z

3

SELECT * FROM table 
WHERE startDate < NOW() AND (endDate IS NULL OR endDate > NOW())

answered Jun 22, 2012 at 22:10

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1 Comment

Thanks. Easier than I was thinking it would be.

Jon · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-22 22:10:44Z

2

Easy:

SELECT * FROM table WHERE startDate < NOW() AND
                          (endDate IS NULL OR endDate > NOW())

answered Jun 22, 2012 at 22:10

Jon

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Not sure about the && and || - do they work cross-platform? I'd tend to recommend just using AND and OR, imo.