Getting the current date in SQL Server?

Question

How can I get the current date in MS-SQL Server 2008 R2?

The format of the column in my database is DATETIME and dates are stored in the following format:

+++++++++++++ Vrdate ++++++++++
|                             |
|   2012-11-18 00:00:00.000   |
|   2012-11-19 00:00:00.000   |
|   2013-11-18 00:00:00.000   |
|   2012-12-01 00:00:00.000   |
|   2010-10-09 00:00:00.000   |
|   2012-11-11 00:00:00.000   |
|                             |
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I searched but wasn't able to find the way to get the date in this format (i.e. which has the time associated with it in 00:00:00.00). I found GETDATE() function but that provides the current time along with the date as well, what I want is get the date in the following format: CurrentDate 00:00:00.00

How may I get this?

Answer 1

SELECT CAST(GETDATE() AS DATE)

Returns the current date with the time part removed.

DATETIMEs are not "stored in the following format". They are stored in a binary format.

SELECT CAST(GETDATE() AS BINARY(8))

The display format in the question is independent of storage.

Formatting into a particular display format should be done by your application.