PHP/MySQL time and date question...

[scott_allen13]

i know this isn't completely flash related, but i figure i can get a quick answer here.

i have installed message board software in which the "last_post" field is type int(10) unsigned and has contents like "1168398912." can someone explain to me how that number creates the date and time? i can't figure out what to search for to get info on it...

thanks,

scott

[DilutedImage]

It's a Unix timestamp ... It's the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 01, 1970. .. That timestamp is 9:15pm, today.

[CyanBlue]

Yup... Google with 'unix time' for more information on that...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time

[DilutedImage]

Read this: PHP and the UNIX Timestamp (http://www.kirupa.com/web/php_unix_timestamp.htm)

[scott_allen13]

thanks guys...

from the looks of things, i can get that from php by saying


$now = date('U');

or convert back to normal with...

$convertedDate = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $unixDate);


sound about right?

scott

[DilutedImage]

Yep. You can also get a current timestamp with time(). Here are the appropriate documentation pages:

Date() (http://www.php.net/date)
Time() (http://www.php.net/time)