Understanding the usage of the MONTHS_BETWEEN function

As the function’s name indicates, the MONTHS_BETWEEN function returns the number of months between two defined dates. The syntax of the MONTHS_BETWEEN function is stated in the following block:

MONTHS_BETWEEN(date_val1, date_val2)

Let’s look at the results. To get a positive value, the first parameter value (date_val1) must be greater than the second parameter (date_val2). If not, a negative result will be provided:

select MONTHS_BETWEEN(TO_DATE ('15.12.2022', 'DD.MM.YYYY'),
                      TO_DATE ('15.2.2022', 'DD.MM.YYYY'))
  from dual;
--> 10
select MONTHS_BETWEEN(TO_DATE ('15.2.2022', 'DD.MM.YYYY'),
                    ...