How to group by month from Date field using sql

Question

How can I group only by month from a date field (and not group by day)?

Here is what my date field looks like:

2012-05-01

Here is m

Answer 1

SQL Server 2012 version above,

SELECT  format(Closing_Date,'yyyy-MM') as ClosingMonth,
        Category,  
        COUNT(Status) TotalCount 
FROM    MyTable
WHERE   Closing_Date >= '2012-02-01' 
AND     Closing_Date <= '2012-12-31'
AND     Defect_Status1 IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY format(Closing_Date,'yyyy-MM'), Category;