[sql] SQL Query NOT Between Two Dates

I need some help with SQL Query.

I am trying to select all records from table test_table which would not fit between two dates '2009-12-15' and '2010-01-02'.

This is my table structure:

`start_date` date NOT NULL default '0000-00-00',
`end_date` date NOT NULL default '0000-00-00'

-----------------------------
 **The following record should not be selected:**

`start_date`, `end_date`
'2003-06-04', '2010-01-01'

My query:

SELECT * 

FROM `test_table` 
WHERE 

CAST('2009-12-15' AS DATE) NOT BETWEEN start_date and end_date 
AND 
CAST('2010-01-02' AS DATE) NOT BETWEEN start_date and end_date

Any idea why my query select wrong records? Should I change the order of values in query to something like:

start_date NOT BETWEEN CAST('2009-12-15' AS DATE) and CAST('2010-01-02' AS DATE)

Thanks a lot for any help

This question is related to sql between

The answer is


How about trying:

select * from 'test_table'
where end_date < CAST('2009-12-15' AS DATE)
or start_date > CAST('2010-01-02' AS DATE)

which will return all date ranges which do not overlap your date range at all.


Do you mean that the date range of the selected rows should not lie fully within the specified date range? In which case:

select *
from test_table
where start_date < date '2009-12-15'
or end_date > date '2010-01-02';

(Syntax above is for Oracle, yours may differ slightly).


For there to be an overlap the table's start_date has to be LESS THAN the interval end date (i.e. it has to start before the end of the interval) AND the table's end_date has to be GREATER THAN the interval start date. You may need to use <= and >= depending on your requirements.


What you are currently doing is checking whether neither the start_date nor the end_date fall within the range of the dates given.

I guess what you are really looking for is a record which does not fit in the date range given. If so, use the query below.

SELECT * 
    FROM `test_table` 
    WHERE  CAST('2009-12-15' AS DATE) > start_date  AND  CAST('2010-01-02' AS DATE) < end_date

Assuming that start_date is before end_date,

interval [start_date..end_date] NOT BETWEEN two dates simply means that either it starts before 2009-12-15 or it ends after 2010-01-02.

Then you can simply do

start_date<CAST('2009-12-15' AS DATE) or end_date>CAST('2010-01-02' AS DATE)

Your logic is backwards.

SELECT 
    *
FROM 
    `test_table`
WHERE
        start_date NOT BETWEEN CAST('2009-12-15' AS DATE) and CAST('2010-01-02' AS DATE)
    AND end_date NOT BETWEEN CAST('2009-12-15' AS DATE) and CAST('2010-01-02' AS DATE)

If the 'NOT' is put before the start_date it should work. For some reason (I don't know why) when 'NOT' is put before 'BETWEEN' it seems to return everything.

NOT (start_date BETWEEN CAST('2009-12-15' AS DATE) AND CAST('2010-01-02' AS DATE))