What is datetime vs timestamp?

Datetime vs Timestamp: What's the Difference?

Both datetime and timestamp are data types used in databases to represent date and time values. However, there are some important differences between them.

Datetime

Datetime is a data type that stores both date and time values up to a precision of one second. It's commonly used to represent appointments, events, or other time-related data that is important to keep track of accurately.

When you insert a datetime value into a database table, it's stored as a string in the format 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'. You can also retrieve and display datetime values in this format.

Timestamp

Timestamp is a data type that stores the number of seconds since the Unix epoch, which is January 1, 1970, at 00:00:00 UTC. It's commonly used to represent the date and time that a row was added or updated in a database table.

When you insert a timestamp value into a database table, it's stored as an integer value representing the number of seconds since the Unix epoch. You can also convert this value to a datetime format if needed.

So, in summary, the main difference between datetime and timestamp is that datetime stores both date and time values up to a precision of one second, while timestamp stores the number of seconds since the Unix epoch.

DATETIME and TIMESTAMP are both data types in MySQL that store both date and time values. However, there are some key differences between the two data types.

DATETIME stores the date and time as a single value, in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. The supported range for DATETIME values is '1000-01-01 00:00:00' to '9999-12-31 23:59:59'.

TIMESTAMP stores the date and time as two separate values, the date and the time. The date is stored in the format YYYY-MM-DD, and the time is stored in the format HH:MM:SS. The supported range for TIMESTAMP values is '1970-01-01 00:00:01' to '2038-01-19 03:14:07'.

TIMESTAMP values are also automatically updated to the current time whenever a row is inserted or updated. DATETIME values are not automatically updated.

In general, you should use DATETIME if you only need to store the date and time as a single value, and you don't need the date and time to be automatically updated. You should use TIMESTAMP if you need to store the date and time as two separate values, and you need the date and time to be automatically updated.