Command guide

intermediate date-time MySQL MariaDB SQL Server PostgreSQL SQLite

Get The Day Of Week From A Date

Return the weekday number or name for a date using engine-specific date functions.

Created Apr 30, 2026 Last updated Apr 30, 2026 0/5 supported engines validation-green 1 example 2 scenarios

Docker-validated Not currently validation-green

Example 1

Label each order with its weekday name

March 15, 2024 was a Friday, and March 16 was a Saturday. The query formats those dates as weekday labels.

MySQL MariaDB

Engine-specific syntax

Source table data

Setup

CREATE TABLE orders (id INT, ordered_at DATE);

INSERT INTO
  orders
VALUES
  (1, '2024-03-15'),
  (2, '2024-03-16');

Validated query

SQL

SELECT
  id,
  DAYNAME (ordered_at) AS weekday_name
FROM
  orders
ORDER BY
  id;

Expected result

id	weekday_name
1	Friday
2	Saturday

SQL Server

Engine-specific syntax

Source table data

Setup

CREATE TABLE orders (id INT, ordered_at DATE);

INSERT INTO
  orders
VALUES
  (1, '2024-03-15'),
  (2, '2024-03-16');

Validated query

SQL

SELECT
  id,
  DATENAME (weekday, ordered_at) AS weekday_name
FROM
  orders
ORDER BY
  id;

Expected result

id	weekday_name
1	Friday
2	Saturday

PostgreSQL

Engine-specific syntax

Source table data

Setup

CREATE TABLE orders (id INT, ordered_at DATE);

INSERT INTO
  orders
VALUES
  (1, '2024-03-15'),
  (2, '2024-03-16');

Validated query

SQL

SELECT
  id,
  TO_CHAR (ordered_at, 'FMDay') AS weekday_name
FROM
  orders
ORDER BY
  id;

Expected result

id	weekday_name
1	Friday
2	Saturday

SQLite

Engine-specific syntax

Source table data

Setup

CREATE TABLE orders (id INT, ordered_at TEXT);

INSERT INTO
  orders
VALUES
  (1, '2024-03-15'),
  (2, '2024-03-16');

Validated query

SQL

SELECT
  id,
  CASE strftime ('%w', ordered_at)
    WHEN '0' THEN 'Sunday'
    WHEN '1' THEN 'Monday'
    WHEN '2' THEN 'Tuesday'
    WHEN '3' THEN 'Wednesday'
    WHEN '4' THEN 'Thursday'
    WHEN '5' THEN 'Friday'
    WHEN '6' THEN 'Saturday'
  END AS weekday_name
FROM
  orders
ORDER BY
  id;

Expected result

id	weekday_name
1	Friday
2	Saturday

SQLite maps strftime('%w') manually because it has no built-in weekday-name function.

Useful when

Where this command helps.

grouping activity by weekday
filtering weekend or weekday records

Explanation

What the command is doing.

Weekday extraction is useful for calendars, staffing reports, and weekend filters. SQL engines disagree on both function names and numbering conventions, so normalize the result if it will be compared across databases. This guide returns a weekday label for readability.

Get The Day Of Week From A Date

Label each order with its weekday name

Where this command helps.

What the command is doing.

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