Migrating from Oracle to SQL server. Dual table select query -> SQL server

Question

I am moving from Oracle into a sql server 2008.

I had some query for the dual table in my system,

SELECT TO_CHAR(TRUNC(sysdate, 'DAY')-0,'YYYYMMDD') FROM DUAL

Since there is no Dual table in SQL server, how can i achieve the same result with getdate with convert on the SQL Server ?

I have also heard adding a dummy table for dual, but should that work for my query?

Answer 1

You can use convert() and no from clause:

SELECT REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), getdate(), 121), '-', '')

or use 112:

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), getdate(), 112)

Answer 2

In SQL Server FROM TABLE is optional but it could be still required in case of JOIN and other complex syntax with aliases, best way to create it.

Select 'x' C into dbo.Dual
(1 row affected)