Database Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 6
Working with Dates and Times
6.0. Introduction
MySQL has several data types for representing dates and times, and many functions for
operating on them. MySQL stores dates and times in specific formats, and it's important
to understand them to avoid surprises in results from manipulating temporal data. This
chapter covers the following aspects of working with date and time values in MySQL:
Choosing a temporal data type
MySQL provides several temporal data types to choose from when you create tables.
Knowing their properties enables you to choose them appropriately.
Displaying dates and times
MySQL displays temporal values using specific formats by default. You can produce
other formats by using the appropriate functions.
Changing the client time zone
The server interprets
TIMESTAMP
values in the client's current time zone, not its own.
Clients in different time zones should set their zone so that the server can properly
interpret
TIMESTAMP
values for them.
Determining the current date and time
MySQL provides functions that return the date and time. These are useful for ap‐
plications that must know these values or need to calculate other temporal values
in relation to them.
Tracking row modification times
The
TIMESTAMP
and
DATETIME
data types have special properties that enable you to
record row-creation and last-modification times automatically.
