Adding current date and time records to MySQL table field

Adding ( or inserting ) date to a mysql date field is one of the common requirement. Some time we have to add current date and time while inserting the record. With this every time a record is added, the present date and time also added along with the record. Before adding date or date and time we have to format the data in a format acceptable to the mysql date field. MySQL date field will accept only valid dates and times so proper formatting is a must and we will discuss here how a record with a date field and a date and time field is added to a mysql table.

Video Tutorial on Inserting Date to Query

We have one date field and one date time field in our table so we will try to format for both the fields. Here are the formats.

For a date field it should be

YYYY-mm-dd

Example: 2005-12-26

For a date and time field it should be

YYYY-mm-dd H:i:s

Example: 2005-12-26 23:50:30

So with this here is one simple SQL query to add a record with a date and date & time field.

INSERT INTO dt_tb (dt,dt2) VALUES ('2004-05-05 23:56:25', '2005-06-12');

PHP date function to changing date formats from one type to other

Adding present ( current ) date and time while inserting a record

Now let us try to add default date and time to the table. That is when ever a record is to be added, it will insert present date and time to the table. So we will format the present date and then present date with time. Let us take two variables $dt1 ( storing the present date value ) and $dt2 ( storing the present date and time ).

$dt1=date("Y-m-d");

$dt2=date("Y-m-d H:i:s");

Now our sql query with these two date values will be like this

INSERT INTO dt_tb(dt,dt2) VALUES ('$dt2', '$dt1');

PHP Script to add date and time to MySQL table

You need to connect to database by using config.php file. The code for config.php file is here.

<?Php
require "config.php"; // Database Connection 
$dt1=date("Y-m-d");
$dt2=date("Y-m-d H:i:s");

$sql="INSERT INTO dt_tb(dt,dt2) VALUES ('$dt2', '$dt1')";
$sql=$dbo->prepare($sql);
if($sql->execute()){
echo " Date stored in table  ";
}
else{
echo " Not able to add record  ";
print_r($sql->errorInfo()); 
}

?>

To create your table here is the sql dump.

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `dt_tb` (
  `id` int(3) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `dt` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
  `dt2` date NOT NULL DEFAULT '0000-00-00',
  UNIQUE KEY `id` (`id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `id_2` (`id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `id_3` (`id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB  DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=2 ;

str_to_date() function can be used to converting string data to date & time format to insert in mysql table

PHP PDO insert command is used with SQL to store data in date fields

Further Improvements

However this way we are adding date and time to a field through a sql query. First we are calculating the current date and time value by using PHP and then storing that value in a field.

MySQL can automatically insert the current date and time value to a field once the record is added. Not only that it can store the last updated time of the record automatically with out using any specific sql query. We can learn the above two points on how automatically MySQL stores last record insertion / updating date and time in a DATETIME field
. SQL Date References Converting string to Date for storing in MySQL table

Puneet Verma	31-12-2009
Is there a way to provide condition check while using INSERT in sql querry

John	03-02-2010
Sorry, but I can't get it to work. Why don't you include this as part of a practical database example. I've been all over the net just to stick a date field in my database. Nothing works - it can't be that hard to do a practial working example of this.

Matt McCarty	25-04-2010
@John... I have a variable list (one is a date to insert, i.e. $dtCreated=date('Y-m-d'); Then I have my INSERT statement with that variable (using PHP) $query = "INSERT INTO myTable VALUES ('$dtCreated')"; If you have more than one variable, order matters!

chan	20-08-2010
I need aprocedure which generates a table with columns week,start_dt,End_dt. Week should have all 52 weeks,start_dt should every weeks start day ,end_dt should have everyweeks end date. Please help Thanks

madhavi	24-04-2014
I need to alter table with current date and time in mysql

smo	14-11-2014
One practical example using PHP is added to this tutorial.

deepa	30-05-2016
insted of php code i want html or javascript code..can u give us>

Shital Gamaji Patil	05-01-2017
how to add from and to date in a single column. or in single column how to add two dates.

smo1234	19-02-2017
You can store dates as string in a single column. You can use any delimiter to separate the dates, while retrieving you can use the same delimiter to separate them. But what is the problem in storing them in two different columns ?

sadia	24-08-2015
Very helpful

Inserting present date and time to a field of mysql table

Video Tutorial on Inserting Date to Query

Adding present ( current ) date and time while inserting a record

PHP Script to add date and time to MySQL table

Further Improvements