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sysdate

sysdate is a pseudo column which returns the current date.

Specifying an arbitrary sysdate for the entire database

The behaviour of sysdate can be changed by setting the init parameter fixed_date or using alter system. sysdate then returns the specified date.
alter session set nls_date_format = 'yyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss';
select sysdate from dual;
SYSDATE
-------------------
2007-01-27 07:49:02
alter system set fixed_date = '2010-11-12 13:14:15';
select sysdate from dual;
SYSDATE
-------------------
2010-11-12 13:14:15
Reseting:
alter system set fixed_date = none;
select sysdate from dual;
SYSDATE
-------------------
2007-01-27 07:49:46