Insert current date/time using now() in a field using MySQL/PHP

Question

Since MySQL evidently cannot automatically insert the function now() in a datetime field in adding new records like some other databases, based on comments, I\'m explicitly tryi

Answer 1

Like Pekka said, it should work this way. I can't reproduce the problem with this self-contained example:

<?php
    $pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test;charset=utf8', 'localonly', 'localonly');
    $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
    $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, false);

    $pdo->exec('
        CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE soFoo (
            id int auto_increment,
            first int,
            last int,
            whenadded DATETIME,
            primary key(id)
        )
    ');
    $pdo->exec('INSERT INTO soFoo (first,last,whenadded) VALUES (0,1,Now())');
    $pdo->exec('INSERT INTO soFoo (first,last,whenadded) VALUES (0,2,Now())');
    $pdo->exec('INSERT INTO soFoo (first,last,whenadded) VALUES (0,3,Now())');

    foreach( $pdo->query('SELECT * FROM soFoo', PDO::FETCH_ASSOC) as $row ) {
        echo join(' | ', $row), "\n";
    }

Which (currently) prints

1 | 0 | 1 | 2012-03-23 16:00:18
2 | 0 | 2 | 2012-03-23 16:00:18
3 | 0 | 3 | 2012-03-23 16:00:18

And here's (almost) the same script using a TIMESTAMP field and DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP:

<?php
    $pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test;charset=utf8', 'localonly', 'localonly');
    $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
    $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, false);

    $pdo->exec('
        CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE soFoo (
            id int auto_increment,
            first int,
            last int,
            whenadded TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
            primary key(id)
        )
    ');
    $pdo->exec('INSERT INTO soFoo (first,last) VALUES (0,1)');
    $pdo->exec('INSERT INTO soFoo (first,last) VALUES (0,2)');
    sleep(1);
    $pdo->exec('INSERT INTO soFoo (first,last) VALUES (0,3)');

    foreach( $pdo->query('SELECT * FROM soFoo', PDO::FETCH_ASSOC) as $row ) {
        echo join(' | ', $row), "\n";
    }

Conveniently, the timestamp is converted to the same datetime string representation as in the first example - at least with my PHP/PDO/mysqlnd version.

Answer 2

now()

worked for me . but my field type is date only and yours is datetime. i am not sure if this is the case

Answer 3

Currently, and with the new versions of Mysql can insert the current date automatically without adding a code in your PHP file. You can achieve that from Mysql while setting up your database as follows:

Now, any new post will automatically get a unique date and time. Hope this can help.

Answer 4

The only reason I can think of is you are adding it as string 'now()', not function call now().
Or whatever else typo.

SELECT NOW();

to see if it returns correct value?

Answer 5

These both work fine for me...

<?php
  $db = mysql_connect('localhost','user','pass');
  mysql_select_db('test_db');

  $stmt = "INSERT INTO `test` (`first`,`last`,`whenadded`) VALUES ".
          "('{$first}','{$last}','NOW())";
  $rslt = mysql_query($stmt);

  $stmt = "INSERT INTO `users` (`first`,`last`,`whenadded`) VALUES ".
          "('{$first}', '{$last}', CURRENT_TIMESTAMP)";
  $rslt = mysql_query($stmt);

?>

Side note: mysql_query() is not the best way to connect to MySQL in current versions of PHP.

Answer 6

Just go to the column whenadded and change the default value to CURRENT_TIMESTAMP