GETUTCDATE()-2 vs DATEADD(d,-2,GETUTCDATE())
newbie (imported from SE) 
I was wondering what the difference between the following two methods is:

     GETUTCDATE()-2  
and

      DATEADD(d,-2,GETUTCDATE())

I guess using `DATEADD` is the correct way, but was wondering why?
Top Answer
meme (imported from SE) 
There's no real difference there, but when you start using `DATETIME2` values, or functions that return `DATETIME2` values, you'll get errors.

    SELECT SYSDATETIME() - 1 AS [Incompatible]

> Msg 206, Level 16, State 2, Line 17 Operand type clash: datetime2 is
> incompatible with int

For these, you have to use date math functions. 

    SELECT DATEADD(DAY, -1, SYSDATETIME()) AS [Compatible]

Aaron Bertrand speaks about this issue briefly in his [Bad Habits to Kick][1] series. 


  [1]: https://sqlblog.org/2011/09/20/bad-habits-to-kick-using-shorthand-with-date-time-operations
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