Let me give you an example. I want to subtract from an arbitrary date the number of months that have elapsed since 1/1/1970, and then add that number of months to 1/1/1970 to return the first day of the month in which the arbitrary date falls
select (date_trunc('month', '2013-01-30'::date))::date
Or add a month to the first day of this month to get the first day of the next month, then subtract one day to get the last day of this month
select date_trunc('month', '2013-01-30'::date + 1 * interval '1 month')::date - 1
Notice in the above example you can add any number of months by multiplying the interval '1 month'
by an integer. You can do that with any interval without manipulating the string '1 month'
. So to add or subtract any interval you just:
select current_date + 5 * interval '1 month'
No need for messy string manipulations. You can multiply by fractions also:
select current_timestamp + 3.5 * interval '1 minute'
To add or subtract days to a date
type you use an integer:
select current_date + 10