---
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title: generate_series (Time-based)
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---
# `generate_series` (Time-based)

**Applies to:** ✅ Data 360 SQL ✅ Tableau Hyper API

Generate a series of time-based values, from `start` to `stop` with a given `step` size.

## Syntax

```sql
generate_series(<start>, <stop>, <step>)
```

## Arguments

### Required

- `<start>`: The start value of the series. Can be of type `DATE`, `TIMESTAMP`, or `TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE`.
- `<stop>`: The end value of the series. Must be of the same type as `<start>`.
- `<step>`: The step size as an `INTERVAL`. Unlike the numerical version of `generate_series`, the step size is always required for time-based series.

## Returns

Returns a set of rows, where each row has a single column, containing the generated series of values.

## Considerations

There are two versions of `generate_series`:
- The numerical version
- The time-based version

This page describes the time-based version.
The numerical version is described in the [generate_series (Numerical)](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/data/data-cloud-query-guide/references/dc-sql-reference/generate-series.md) section.
In contrast to the numerical version, the step size is always required for time-based series.

Furthermore, all considerations from the [generate_series (Numerical)](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/data/data-cloud-query-guide/references/dc-sql-reference/generate-series.md) section regarding `start`, `stop`, and `step` parameters apply to the time-based version, too.

## Examples

### Basic Usage with Dates

Generate a series of months between two dates.

```sql
SELECT * FROM generate_series('2017-01-01'::date, '2017-03-01'::date, '1 month'::interval);
```

Results:

| generate_series |
| :--- |
| 2017-01-01 |
| 2017-02-01 |
| 2017-03-01 |

### Usage with Timestamps

```sql
SELECT * FROM generate_series('2017-01-01 01:02:03'::timestamp, '2017-03-01 01:02:03'::timestamp, '1 month'::interval);
```

Results:

| generate_series |
| :--- |
| 2017-01-01 01:02:03 |
| 2017-02-01 01:02:03 |
| 2017-03-01 01:02:03 |

### Month-End Handling

If the series starts near the end of a month, `generate_series` adjusts to the end of subsequent months.

```sql
SELECT * FROM generate_series('2017-01-30'::timestamp, '2017-05-30'::timestamp, '1 month'::interval);
```

Results:

| generate_series |
| :--- |
| 2017-01-30 00:00:00 |
| 2017-02-28 00:00:00 |
| 2017-03-30 00:00:00 |
| 2017-04-30 00:00:00 |
| 2017-05-30 00:00:00 |

### Negative Step Sizes

For negative step sizes, the function returns the series in reverse order.
`start` must be greater than `stop` in this case.

```sql
SELECT *
FROM generate_series('2017-03-01'::timestamp, '2017-01-01'::timestamp, '-1 month'::interval) WITH ORDINALITY
ORDER BY ordinality ASC
```

Results:

| generate_series | ordinality |
| :--- | :--- |
| 2017-03-01 00:00:00 | 1 |
| 2017-02-01 00:00:00 | 2 |
| 2017-01-01 00:00:00 | 3 |

## Related Documentation

- [Set Returning Functions](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/data/data-cloud-query-guide/references/dc-sql-reference/set-returning-functions.md)
- [`generate_series` (Numerical)](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/data/data-cloud-query-guide/references/dc-sql-reference/generate-series.md) - the numerical version of this function
- [`ARRAY_GENERATE_SERIES` (Time-based)](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/data/data-cloud-query-guide/references/scalar-func/array-func/array-generate-series-time.md) - the array-returning version of this function