# Help comparing java sql timestamp and java util date

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/help-comparing-java-sql-timestamp-and-java-util-date/38293>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** database, ignition79, scripting\
**Created:** [September 2, 2020, 11:55am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/help-comparing-java-sql-timestamp-and-java-util-date/38293 "2020-09-02T11:55:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![code\_skin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@code\_skin](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/code_skin)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 11:55am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/help-comparing-java-sql-timestamp-and-java-util-date/38293/1 "2020-09-02T11:55:04Z")

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What are some efficient solutions when comparing datetime records from a SQL Server with date objects from system.date.\*?

I tried to convert both dates to millis with system.date.toMillis() but then I’m left with the following:

```auto
a = 1598263200000
b = 1598263200000L
if a==b:
    print True

```

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**Author:** ![bkarabinchak.psi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bkarabinchak.psi/32/83567_2.png) [@bkarabinchak.psi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/bkarabinchak.psi)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/help-comparing-java-sql-timestamp-and-java-util-date/38293/2 "2020-09-02T11:59:54Z")

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I’ve asked about the `L` that sometimes appears, its a jython thing, but for all intents and purposes I believe those numbers. Does this not print true? You can always try typecasting perhaps.

If you do

```auto
print str(type(a))
print str(type(b))

```

What do you see?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/help-comparing-java-sql-timestamp-and-java-util-date/38293/3 "2020-09-02T12:16:45Z")

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You can compare them directly using those [java.util.Date](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/Date.html) objects’ native `.equals()`, `.before()`, or `.after()` methods.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/help-comparing-java-sql-timestamp-and-java-util-date/38293/4 "2020-09-02T15:28:17Z")

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Or also [`system.date.isAfter`](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC80/system.date.isAfter), `isBefore`, etc.