SQL GetDate() displays current date or system date?

Question

I need to know whether SQL GETDATE() displays actual current date or system date ?

Answer 1

It is clearly said in MSDN:

getdate() returns the current database system timestamp as a datetime value without the database time zone offset. This value is derived from the operating system of the computer on which the instance of SQL Server is running.

Answer 2

As far as I know there are six SQL Server date functions, all of them derive current date from operating system (Is it possible to get date from outside? Is it possible to have more than one date on the same computer?). The differences are in timezones and their interpretation. Take a look at this query:

SELECT 'SYSDATETIME' [Name], SYSDATETIME() 
UNION ALL
SELECT 'SYSDATETIMEOFFSET', SYSDATETIMEOFFSET()  
UNION ALL
SELECT 'SYSUTCDATETIME', SYSUTCDATETIME()  
UNION ALL
SELECT 'CURRENT_TIMESTAMP', CURRENT_TIMESTAMP  
UNION ALL
SELECT 'GETDATE', GETDATE()  
UNION ALL
SELECT 'GETUTCDATE', GETUTCDATE();

On my computer this yields:

SYSDATETIME         2016-07-27 13:44:12.8562698 +00:00
SYSDATETIMEOFFSET   2016-07-27 13:44:12.8562698 +02:00
SYSUTCDATETIME      2016-07-27 11:44:12.8562698 +00:00
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP   2016-07-27 13:44:12.8530000 +00:00
GETDATE             2016-07-27 13:44:12.8530000 +00:00
GETUTCDATE          2016-07-27 11:44:12.8530000 +00:00

My advice is to analyze this script, see differences and read MSDN Documentation about those functions.