date as parameter in sql query and today

Hello, I'm trying to use the date as parameter in a sql query in matlab I tried several possibilities but must be missing something in formatting... The date format in sql table is yyyy-mm-dd. It would be something like: result=extract(inputdate) conn = database('DB','',''); string = 'select * from Database where P_Date<inputdate' etc

As an alternative, I would like to do the same with something like today() in excel, e.g. result=extract(inputdate) conn = database('DB','',''); string = 'select * from Database where P_Date<today' etc Thank you very much in advance D.