Oracle MONTHS_BETWEEN function

Last update on August 19 2022 21:50:41 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

How to calculate the number of months between two dates in Oracle?

The MONTHS_BETWEEN() function is used to get the number of months between dates (date1, date2). See the following conditions:

If date1 is later than date2, then the result is positive.
If date1 is earlier than date2, then the result is negative.
If date1 and date2 are either the same days of the month or both last days of months, then the result is always an integer.
Otherwise, Oracle Database calculates the fractional portion of the result based on a 31-day month and considers the difference in time components date1 and date2.

Syntax:

MONTHS_BETWEEN(date1, date2)

Parameters:

Name	Description
date1	The first date
date2	The second date.

Applies to:
Oracle 12c, Oracle 11g, Oracle 10g, Oracle 9i

Pictorial Presentation

Example: Oracle MONTHS_BETWEEN () function

The following statement calculates the months between two specified dates:

SQL> SELECT MONTHS_BETWEEN
  2     (TO_DATE('02-02-2015','MM-DD-YYYY'),
  3     TO_DATE('12-01-2014','MM-DD-YYYY') ) "Months"
  4     FROM DUAL;.

Sample Output:

    Months
----------
2.03225806

Previous: LOCALTIMESTAMP
Next: NEW_TIME