diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/FunctionRegistry.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/FunctionRegistry.scala
index 372f80d4a8b16..4049a7655ef96 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/FunctionRegistry.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/FunctionRegistry.scala
@@ -218,6 +218,8 @@ object FunctionRegistry {
     expression[NextDay]("next_day"),
     expression[Quarter]("quarter"),
     expression[Second]("second"),
+    expression[ToDate]("to_date"),
+    expression[Trunc]("trunc"),
     expression[WeekOfYear]("weekofyear"),
     expression[Year]("year"),
 
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/datetimeFunctions.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/datetimeFunctions.scala
index efecb771f2f5d..9ae5f9ced0a19 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/datetimeFunctions.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/datetimeFunctions.scala
@@ -272,6 +272,26 @@ case class LastDay(startDate: Expression) extends UnaryExpression with ImplicitC
   override def prettyName: String = "last_day"
 }
 
+/**
+ * Returns the date part of a timestamp string.
+ */
+case class ToDate(child: Expression) extends UnaryExpression with ImplicitCastInputTypes {
+
+  // Implicit casting of spark will accept string in both date and timestamp format, as
+  // well as TimestampType.
+  override def inputTypes: Seq[AbstractDataType] = Seq(DateType)
+
+  override def dataType: DataType = DateType
+
+  override def eval(input: InternalRow): Any = {
+    child.eval(input)
+  }
+
+  override def genCode(ctx: CodeGenContext, ev: GeneratedExpressionCode): String = {
+    defineCodeGen(ctx, ev, (time) => time)
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Returns the first date which is later than startDate and named as dayOfWeek.
  * For example, NextDay(2015-07-27, Sunday) would return 2015-08-02, which is the first
@@ -283,6 +303,7 @@ case class NextDay(startDate: Expression, dayOfWeek: Expression)
   extends BinaryExpression with ImplicitCastInputTypes {
 
   override def left: Expression = startDate
+
   override def right: Expression = dayOfWeek
 
   override def inputTypes: Seq[AbstractDataType] = Seq(DateType, StringType)
@@ -330,3 +351,88 @@ case class NextDay(startDate: Expression, dayOfWeek: Expression)
 
   override def prettyName: String = "next_day"
 }
+
+/**
+ * Returns date truncated to the unit specified by the format.
+ */
+case class Trunc(date: Expression, format: Expression)
+  extends BinaryExpression with ImplicitCastInputTypes {
+  override def left: Expression = date
+  override def right: Expression = format
+
+  override def inputTypes: Seq[AbstractDataType] = Seq(DateType, StringType)
+  override def dataType: DataType = DateType
+
+  lazy val constFmt = format.eval().asInstanceOf[UTF8String]
+
+  override def eval(input: InternalRow): Any = {
+    if (format.foldable) {
+      val minItem = DateTimeUtils.getFmt(constFmt)
+      if (minItem == -1) {
+        // unknown format
+        null
+      } else {
+        val d = date.eval(input)
+        if (d == null) {
+          null
+        } else {
+          DateTimeUtils.dateTrunc(d.asInstanceOf[Int], minItem)
+        }
+      }
+    } else {
+      val fmt = format.eval(input).asInstanceOf[UTF8String]
+      val d = date.eval(input)
+      if (d == null) {
+        null
+      } else {
+        val minItem = DateTimeUtils.getFmt(fmt)
+        if (minItem == -1) {
+          // unknown format
+          null
+        } else {
+          DateTimeUtils.dateTrunc(d.asInstanceOf[Int], minItem)
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  override def genCode(ctx: CodeGenContext, ev: GeneratedExpressionCode): String = {
+    val dtu = DateTimeUtils.getClass.getName.stripSuffix("$")
+    if (date.foldable) {
+      val d = date.gen(ctx)
+      val minItem = DateTimeUtils.getFmt(constFmt)
+      if (d == null || minItem == -1) {
+        s"""
+          boolean ${ev.isNull} = true;
+          ${ctx.javaType(dataType)} ${ev.primitive} = ${ctx.defaultValue(dataType)};
+        """
+      } else {
+        s"""
+          ${d.code}
+          boolean ${ev.isNull} = ${d.isNull};
+          ${ctx.javaType(dataType)} ${ev.primitive} = ${ctx.defaultValue(dataType)};
+          if (!${ev.isNull}) {
+            if ($minItem == -1) {
+              ${ev.isNull} = true;
+            } else {
+              ${ev.primitive} = $dtu.dateTrunc(${d.primitive}, $minItem);
+            }
+          }
+        """
+      }
+    } else {
+      nullSafeCodeGen(ctx, ev, (dateVal, fmt) => {
+        val form = ctx.freshName("form")
+        s"""
+          int $form = $dtu.getFmt($fmt);
+          if ($form == -1) {
+            ${ev.isNull} = true;
+          } else {
+            ${ev.primitive} = $dtu.dateTrunc($dateVal, $form);
+          }
+        """
+      })
+    }
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DateTimeUtils.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DateTimeUtils.scala
index 93966a503c27c..6214f3f64aacb 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DateTimeUtils.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DateTimeUtils.scala
@@ -640,4 +640,35 @@ object DateTimeUtils {
     }
     date + (lastDayOfMonthInYear - dayInYear)
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the trunc date from original date and trunc level.
+   * Trunc level should be generated using `this.getFmt()`.
+   */
+  def dateTrunc(d: Int, minItem: Int): Int = {
+    if (minItem == 2) {
+      // trunc to year
+      d - DateTimeUtils.getDayInYear(d) + 1
+    } else {
+      // trunc to MONTH
+      d - DateTimeUtils.getDayOfMonth(d) + 1
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the truncate level, could be 1 for month, 2 for year, -1 for invalid/null
+   * -1 means unsupported truncate level.
+   */
+  def getFmt(string: UTF8String): Int = {
+    if (string == null) {
+      -1
+    } else {
+      val fmtString = string.toString.toUpperCase
+      fmtString match {
+        case "MON" | "MONTH" | "MM" => 1
+        case "YEAR" | "YYYY" | "YY" => 2
+        case _ => -1
+      }
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/DateExpressionsSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/DateExpressionsSuite.scala
index aca8d6eb3500c..2ef7442df1fe0 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/DateExpressionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/DateExpressionsSuite.scala
@@ -303,4 +303,22 @@ class DateExpressionsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper {
     checkEvaluation(
       NextDay(Literal(Date.valueOf("2015-07-23")), Literal.create(null, StringType)), null)
   }
+
+  test("function to_date") {
+    checkEvaluation(
+      ToDate(Literal(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22"))),
+      DateTimeUtils.fromJavaDate(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")))
+  }
+
+  test("function trunc") {
+    checkEvaluation(EqualTo(
+      Trunc(Literal(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Literal("YYYY")),
+      Trunc(Literal(Date.valueOf("2015-01-01")), Literal("YEAR"))), true)
+
+    checkEvaluation(EqualTo(
+      Trunc(Literal(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Literal("MONTH")),
+      Trunc(Literal(Date.valueOf("2015-07-01")), Literal("mm"))), true)
+
+    checkEvaluation(Trunc(Literal(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Literal("DD")), null)
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
index 4261a5e7cbeb5..c4db92ee393ec 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
@@ -1015,22 +1015,6 @@ object functions {
    */
   def cosh(columnName: String): Column = cosh(Column(columnName))
 
-  /**
-   * Returns the current date.
-   *
-   * @group datetime_funcs
-   * @since 1.5.0
-   */
-  def current_date(): Column = CurrentDate()
-
-  /**
-   * Returns the current timestamp.
-   *
-   * @group datetime_funcs
-   * @since 1.5.0
-   */
-  def current_timestamp(): Column = CurrentTimestamp()
-
   /**
    * Computes the exponential of the given value.
    *
@@ -1916,6 +1900,22 @@ object functions {
   // DateTime functions
   //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
+  /**
+   * Returns the current date.
+   *
+   * @group datetime_funcs
+   * @since 1.5.0
+   */
+  def current_date(): Column = CurrentDate()
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the current timestamp.
+   *
+   * @group datetime_funcs
+   * @since 1.5.0
+   */
+  def current_timestamp(): Column = CurrentTimestamp()
+
   /**
    * Converts a date/timestamp/string to a value of string in the format specified by the date
    * format given by the second argument.
@@ -2099,6 +2099,22 @@ object functions {
    */
   def weekofyear(columnName: String): Column = weekofyear(Column(columnName))
 
+  /**
+   * Returns date truncated to the unit specified by the format.
+   *
+   * @group datetime_funcs
+   * @since 1.5.0
+   */
+  def to_date(e: Column): Column = ToDate(e.expr)
+
+  /**
+   * Returns date truncated to the unit specified by the format.
+   *
+   * @group datetime_funcs
+   * @since 1.5.0
+   */
+  def trunc(date: Column, format: Column): Column = Trunc(date.expr, format.expr)
+
   //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   // Collection functions
   //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DateFunctionsSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DateFunctionsSuite.scala
index 07eb6e4a8d8cd..a2e33c2ae0d93 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DateFunctionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DateFunctionsSuite.scala
@@ -228,4 +228,48 @@ class DateFunctionsSuite extends QueryTest {
       Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-30")), Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-30"))))
   }
 
+  test("function to_date") {
+    val d1 = Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")
+    val d2 = Date.valueOf("2015-07-01")
+    val t1 = Timestamp.valueOf("2015-07-22 10:00:00")
+    val t2 = Timestamp.valueOf("2014-12-31 23:59:59")
+    val s1 = "2015-07-22 10:00:00"
+    val s2 = "2014-12-31"
+    val df = Seq((d1, t1, s1), (d2, t2, s2)).toDF("d", "t", "s")
+
+    checkAnswer(
+      df.select(to_date(col("t"))),
+      Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Row(Date.valueOf("2014-12-31"))))
+    checkAnswer(
+      df.select(to_date(col("d"))),
+      Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-01"))))
+    checkAnswer(
+      df.select(to_date(col("s"))),
+      Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Row(Date.valueOf("2014-12-31"))))
+
+    checkAnswer(
+      df.selectExpr("to_date(t)"),
+      Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Row(Date.valueOf("2014-12-31"))))
+    checkAnswer(
+      df.selectExpr("to_date(d)"),
+      Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-01"))))
+    checkAnswer(
+      df.selectExpr("to_date(s)"),
+      Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-22")), Row(Date.valueOf("2014-12-31"))))
+  }
+
+  test("function trunc") {
+    val df = Seq(
+      (1, Timestamp.valueOf("2015-07-22 10:00:00")),
+      (2, Timestamp.valueOf("2014-12-31 00:00:00"))).toDF("i", "t")
+
+    checkAnswer(
+      df.select(trunc(col("t"), lit("YY"))),
+      Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-01-01")), Row(Date.valueOf("2014-01-01"))))
+
+
+    checkAnswer(
+      df.selectExpr("trunc(t, 'Month')"),
+      Seq(Row(Date.valueOf("2015-07-01")), Row(Date.valueOf("2014-12-01"))))
+  }
 }