`current_timestamp`

Generic Description

Returns the current timestamp. It is documented separately because time construction, sequence ordering, window parameters, and as-of behavior materially change analytical meaning.

Simple example:

RETURN current_timestamp() AS value

Consumer-Level Explanation

Use it for live as-of calculations and freshness expressions. Prefer this function when the temporal assumption should be visible to the planner, especially for event streams, freshness checks, and sequence features.

More Detailed Explanation

current_timestamp belongs to the temporal construction, conversion, or extraction surface. Use it to make time semantics explicit in the query text: whether a value is date-only, time-only, timestamp-like, duration-like, current-time dependent, or bucketed to a chosen calendar unit.

Advanced Example

This example names the event stream and operational context before applying current_timestamp, which helps planner tooling preserve the intended sequence semantics.

WITH 'sensor-1' AS subject_id,
     [{ts: 1735689600000, value: 10.0, state: 'ok'}, {ts: 1735689660000, value: 13.0, state: 'ok'}, {ts: 1735689840000, value: 9.0, state: 'warn'}, {ts: 1735690200000, value: 16.0, state: 'ok'}] AS readings
RETURN subject_id,
       current_timestamp() AS value

Real Use Cases

Real Limitations And Tradeoffs