title: Oracle SQL sysdate alternatives?
body: <p>I'm using a software that allows me to run Oracle SQL queries but only a stripped kind. Functions like <code>REPLACE</code>, <code>SUBSTR</code>, <code>KEEP</code>, <code>DENSE_RANK</code>, etc. do not work. Just today I also found out that <code>SYSDATE</code> doesn't work and I need to find an alternative to it.</p>
  
  <p>I found <a href="https://blogs.oracle.com/ecmarch/entry/be_aware_of_the_difference" rel="nofollow">this article</a> and one of the comments pointed out the difference between <code>SYSDATE</code> and <code>CURRENT_DATE</code> and thought I could use <code>CURRENT_DATE</code> but it turns out that the function depends on the session timezone and not on the OS time which could give me a different result. The user also presented solutions like</p>
  
  <pre><code>ALTER SESSION SET TIME_ZONE = 'Canada/Eastern';
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But that doesn't work as well. Are there other alternatives you guys are aware of that I could try?</p>