Working with Dates - SPARQLqueries

Date Functions in SPARQL

SPARQL provides several functions to extract components from datetime values. These are essential for filtering and grouping temporal data.

Function	Returns	Example
`YEAR(?date)`	Year as integer	2023
`MONTH(?date)`	Month (1-12)	7
`DAY(?date)`	Day (1-31)	15
`HOURS(?datetime)`	Hour (0-23)	14
`MINUTES(?datetime)`	Minutes (0-59)	30
`SECONDS(?datetime)`	Seconds (0-59)	45

Programming Languages: Filter by Year

Languages Created After 2010

Run ↗

SELECT ?lang ?langLabel ?inception (YEAR(?inception) AS ?year)
WHERE {
  ?lang wdt:P31 wd:Q9143 ;
        wdt:P571 ?inception .
  FILTER(YEAR(?inception) > 2010)
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY DESC(?year)
LIMIT 50

Temporal Features: YEAR(), FILTER, ORDER BY

Languages by Decade of Creation

Run ↗

SELECT ?decade (COUNT(?lang) AS ?count)
WHERE {
  ?lang wdt:P31 wd:Q9143 ;
        wdt:P571 ?inception .
  BIND(FLOOR(YEAR(?inception) / 10) * 10 AS ?decade)
}
GROUP BY ?decade
ORDER BY ?decade

Temporal Features: FLOOR(), BIND, GROUP BY

Cultural Heritage: Date Ranges

Artworks Created in the 19th Century

Run ↗

SELECT ?artwork ?artworkLabel ?creator ?creatorLabel ?date
WHERE {
  ?artwork wdt:P31 wd:Q3305213 ;  # painting
           wdt:P170 ?creator ;      # creator
           wdt:P571 ?date .         # inception

  # 19th century: 1801-1900
  FILTER(YEAR(?date) >= 1801 && YEAR(?date) <= 1900)

  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY ?date
LIMIT 100

Temporal Domain: Cultural Heritage | Range filter

Museums Founded by Month

Run ↗

SELECT ?month (COUNT(?museum) AS ?count)
WHERE {
  ?museum wdt:P31/wdt:P279* wd:Q33506 ;  # museum
          wdt:P571 ?inception .
  BIND(MONTH(?inception) AS ?month)
  FILTER(BOUND(?month))  # Only dates with month precision
}
GROUP BY ?month
ORDER BY ?month

Temporal Features: MONTH(), BOUND()

Urban: Comparing Dates

Buildings Completed Before City Founded

Run ↗

SELECT ?building ?buildingLabel ?buildingDate
       ?city ?cityLabel ?cityFounded
WHERE {
  ?building wdt:P31/wdt:P279* wd:Q41176 ;  # building
            wdt:P571 ?buildingDate ;
            wdt:P131 ?city .
  ?city wdt:P31/wdt:P279* wd:Q515 ;
        wdt:P571 ?cityFounded .

  # Building older than city
  FILTER(?buildingDate < ?cityFounded)

  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
LIMIT 50

Temporal Domain: Urban | Date comparison

Metro Systems by Opening Year

Run ↗

SELECT ?metro ?metroLabel ?city ?cityLabel
       (YEAR(?opened) AS ?year)
WHERE {
  ?metro wdt:P31 wd:Q1412403 ;  # rapid transit system
         wdt:P131 ?city ;
         wdt:P1619 ?opened .     # date of official opening
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY ?year
LIMIT 50

Temporal Property: P1619 (date of official opening)

Date Arithmetic

SPARQL allows basic date comparisons and calculations. You can compute differences, check ranges, and sort chronologically.

Calculate Age of Programming Languages

Run ↗

SELECT ?lang ?langLabel (YEAR(?inception) AS ?created)
       (YEAR(NOW()) - YEAR(?inception) AS ?age)
WHERE {
  ?lang wdt:P31 wd:Q9143 ;
        wdt:P571 ?inception .
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY DESC(?age)
LIMIT 20

Temporal Features: NOW(), date arithmetic