Records from Last 7 Days in MySQL

Fetching recent rows

A very common report is "show records from the last 7 days" — recent orders, sign-ups or logs. MySQL makes this easy with CURDATE() and INTERVAL, and the same pattern scales to 30 days, today, or any period you need.

Last 7 days

SELECT * FROM orders
WHERE order_date >= CURDATE() - INTERVAL 7 DAY;

This returns every order dated within the last week. Because it uses CURDATE(), it automatically means "the last 7 days" no matter which day you run it.

How INTERVAL works

SELECT CURDATE(), CURDATE() - INTERVAL 7 DAY;

INTERVAL 7 DAY shifts a date by seven days. Subtracting it from today gives the date a week ago, which becomes the lower bound of the range.

Just today

SELECT * FROM orders
WHERE DATE(created_at) = CURDATE();

To get only today's rows, compare the date part to CURDATE(). Wrapping the column in DATE() ignores the time, so every row created today matches, whatever the clock time.

Last 30 days

SELECT * FROM orders
WHERE order_date >= CURDATE() - INTERVAL 30 DAY;

Just change the number and unit. The same pattern gives the last 30 days, last 3 months (INTERVAL 3 MONTH), or last year (INTERVAL 1 YEAR).

With date-time columns

SELECT * FROM logs
WHERE created_at >= NOW() - INTERVAL 7 DAY;

If the column stores a full date and time, use NOW() (which includes the time) instead of CURDATE(). This gives records from exactly 7 days ago to this moment.

Common mistakes

• Using a fixed date. It goes stale; CURDATE()/NOW() stay current.
• Ignoring the time part. Use DATE() or NOW() to match how the column stores time.
• Wrong interval unit. DAY, MONTH, YEAR must match your intent.
• Comparing a date to a string. Store dates in DATE/DATETIME columns.

Summary

• Get the last 7 days with >= CURDATE() - INTERVAL 7 DAY.
• INTERVAL shifts a date by a number of days, months or years.
• Use DATE(col) = CURDATE() for just today.
• Change the number/unit for 30 days, a month, a year, etc.
• Use NOW() instead of CURDATE() for date-time columns.

Next, get month boundaries in first and last day of a month, or compute ages in age from date of birth.