- (Subtract) (Transact-SQL)
Subtracts two numbers (an arithmetic subtraction operator). Can also subtract a number, in days, from a date.
Applies to: SQL Server (SQL Server 2008 through current version and Windows Azure SQL Database (Initial release through current release). |
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions
Syntax
-- Core Syntax (common to SQL Server and SQL Database)
expression - expression
Arguments
- expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types of the numeric data type category, except the bit data type. Cannot be used with date, time, datetime2, or datetimeoffset data types.
Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type Precedence (Transact-SQL).
Examples
A. Using subtraction in a SELECT statement
The following example calculates the difference in tax rate between the state or province with the highest tax rate and the state or province with the lowest tax rate.
Applies to: SQL Server and SQL Database.
USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
SELECT MAX(TaxRate) - MIN(TaxRate) AS 'Tax Rate Difference'
FROM Sales.SalesTaxRate
WHERE StateProvinceID IS NOT NULL;
GO
You can change the order of execution by using parentheses. Calculations inside parentheses are evaluated first. If parentheses are nested, the most deeply nested calculation has precedence.
B. Using date subtraction
The following example subtracts a number of days from a datetime date.
Applies to: SQL Server and SQL Database.
USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE @altstartdate datetime;
SET @altstartdate = CONVERT(DATETIME, ''January 10, 1900 3:00 AM', 101);
SELECT @altstartdate - 1.5 AS 'Subtract Date';
Here is the result set:
Subtract Date
-----------------------
1900-01-08 15:00:00.000
(1 row(s) affected)
See Also
Reference
Arithmetic Operators (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)