MySQL date format

Question

When I make a table and create a field of type date in mysql, it stores date like 0000-00-00. Is it possible to change the format to \'d-m-Y\'?

Answer 1

No, it's not possible. But you can use DATE_FORMAT to select that way.

SELECT Date_format(mydatefield, '%d-%m-%Y') 
FROM   table 

Answer 2

I see the use for both, but I find this layout more useful as a reference tool:

SELECT DATE_FORMAT('2004-01-20' ,'%Y-%m-01');

Answer 3

Go to MySQL Reference - 10.5. Data Type Storage Requirements

Search for: Storage Requirements for Date and Time Types

Dates are internally stored as A three-byte integer packed as DD + MM×32 + YYYY×16×32

But, if you select a date column for display, it has to be shown in some way, so it comes out as 0000-00-00. It is not stored as a char(10) with that specific format.

If, for display, you need to see a specific format, you can convert it to VARCHAR in a specific format using Date_Format(). However, bear in mind that if you are using the query in a programming tool, this is not what you want to do. You want the raw date value, for display purposes, there will be a similar formatting function from whatever programming environment you use.

As you can see from the reference in DATE_FORMAT, you will want to use '%d-%m-%Y', e.g.

SELECT col1, col2, DATE_FORMAT(datecolumn, '%d-%m-%Y') AS datecolumn, more1...
FROM sometable
....

Answer 4

No, it's not possible while keeping it as a date field. I suggest you keep it in that format - so you can use all mysql date functions - and change it only when you display it to the users.

You can either do it application side or directly with a query:

SELECT DATE_FORMAT(date_field, "%d-%m-%Y") FROM ...

Answer 5

You can do this using SQL

SELECT DATE_FORMAT(date_field, "%d-%m-%Y") FROM ...

Or if you're using PHP you can achieve the same results:

echo date('d-m-Y', $originalDate);  //You will get something like 09-08-2013 (Aug 8th, 2013)
echo date('j-n-y', $originalDate);  //You will get something like 9-8-13 (Aug 8th, 2013)