Selecting based on current date

Question

I wonder how I can set a value in a table based on the current date. I have viewed most of the posts and I found that it is straight forward to get current date. But my problem is to pass that current date for the comparison in my select statement. For example
I can get date using the select statement but I don't know how to use it in the next select statement. See below
select sysdate
from dual;
Like here,
UPDATE PAYMENT (payment_date)
SET (sysdate) /* this does not work */
WHERE pid='8';
So what do I need to do to set the payment_date field correctly? (for the reference my PAYMENT table is shown below for clarity)
CREATE TABLE PAYMENT     
     (pid          VARCHAR(15)          NOT NULL,
     rid          VARCHAR(15)          NOT NULL,
     payment_date     DATE,               
     due_date     DATE,
PRIMARY KEY(pid));
I would very much appreciate your response. Thank you.
Edited by: user10653046 on Nov 30, 2008 12:30 AM

Answer 1

If I'm not mistaken, you are asking about the basic syntax of an UPDATE statement?
You can find that in the SQL Language Reference. A link to the part where it talks about the UPDATE statement: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b28286/statements_10008.htm#SQLRF01708
An example:
SQL> CREATE TABLE PAYMENT
  2  (pid VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
  3  rid VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
  4  payment_date DATE,
  5  due_date DATE,
  6  PRIMARY KEY(pid));
Tabel is aangemaakt.
SQL> update payment
  2     set payment_date = sysdate
  3   where pid = '8'
  4  /
0 rijen zijn bijgewerkt.Regards,
Rob.