php,mysql,datetime,timestamp,lamp – Pros and Cons of Various Date/Time Field Types in MySQL

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Date and time in MySQL can be stored as DATETIME, TIMESTAMP, and INTEGER (number of seconds since 01/01/1970). What are the benefits and drawbacks of each, particularly when developing under a LAMP stack?

Best Answer

  • TIMESTAMP is stored in a MySQL proprietary method (though it's basically just a string consisting of year, month, day, hour, minutes and seconds) and additionally, a field of type TIMESTAMP is automatically updated whenever the record is inserted or changed and no explicit field value is given:

    mysql> create table timestamp_test(
    id integer not null auto_increment primary key, 
    val varchar(100) not null default '', ts timestamp not null); 
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> insert into timestamp_test (val) values ('foobar');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> select * from timestamp_test;
+----+--------+----------------+
| id | val    | ts             |
+----+--------+----------------+
|  1 | foobar | 20090122174108 |
+----+--------+----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> update timestamp_test set val = 'foo bar' where id = 1;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
Rows matched: 1  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0

mysql> select * from timestamp_test;
+----+---------+----------------+
| id | val     | ts             |
+----+---------+----------------+
|  1 | foo bar | 20090122174123 |
+----+---------+----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

  • DATETIME is the standard data type for dates and times which works in conjunction with the date and time functions in MySQL. I'd probably use this in practice

  • Storing dates in INTEGER format is not recommended, as you are opening a real can of worms due to interesting problems like time zones, leap years and the like - at least if you intend to query the database based on specific dates stored in that field.
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