Is it advisable to store dates as VARCHAR in a database and convert them to DATETIME for manipulation in PHP?

Storing dates as VARCHAR in a database is not advisable as it can lead to potential data inconsistencies and performance issues. It is recommended to store dates in the database as DATETIME data type for accurate sorting, querying, and manipulation. To convert the stored dates to DATETIME for manipulation in PHP, you can retrieve the VARCHAR date from the database and use PHP's strtotime() function to convert it to a timestamp, then use the date() function to format it as needed.

// Retrieve date from database as VARCHAR
$dateFromDB = "2022-01-15";

// Convert VARCHAR date to DATETIME for manipulation
$timestamp = strtotime($dateFromDB);
$dateTime = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp);

// Now $dateTime can be used for date manipulation in PHP
echo $dateTime;