SQL Server 2008 R2 – How to Get the Last Day of the Previous Month

sql-server-2008-r2

Is there a quicker and easier to read way in order to get the last day of the previous month in T-SQL?

I have found this piece of source code, which does the trick, but looks obfuscated unless properly previously commented:

-- Declar variabila pentru ultima zi din luna anterioară.
DECLARE @DSL [DATETIME]
SET @DSL = (SELECT DATEADD(  dd
                           ,  0
                           , DATEDIFF(  dd
                                      ,  0
                                      , DATEADD(   s
                                                , -1
                                                , DATEADD(  mm
                                                          , DATEDIFF(  m
                                                                     , 0
                                                                     , GETDATE())
                                                          , 0)))))
PRINT 'Declar variabila pentru ultima zi din luna anterioară.'
PRINT @DSL

The message window with the results show the following output:

Declar variabila pentru ultima zi din luna anterioară.
Mar 31 2015 12:00AM

Please forgive my ignorance, I feel like a new-born newbie when I see these tricks.

SELECT @@VERSION reports:

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (SP2) – 10.0.4000.0 (Intel X86)
Sep 16 2010 20:09:22
Copyright (c) 1988-2008 Microsoft Corporation
Express Edition with Advanced Services on Windows NT 5.1 (Build 2600: Service Pack 3)

Best Answer

This one works in SQL Server 2008 R2, will probably work on SQL Server 2008 too :

DECLARE @DSL [DATETIME]
SET @DSL = (SELECT DATEADD(MONTH, DATEDIFF(MONTH, -1, GETDATE())-1, -1))
PRINT 'Declar variabila pentru ultima zi din luna anterioară.'
PRINT @DSL
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