What are the potential drawbacks of storing dates as VARCHAR instead of using the date data type in MySQL for PHP applications?

Storing dates as VARCHAR instead of using the date data type in MySQL can lead to potential issues with sorting, filtering, and calculations. It can also result in increased storage space and slower query performance. To solve this issue, it is recommended to use the date data type in MySQL for storing dates. 

// Create a table with a date column using the date data type
$createTableQuery = "CREATE TABLE my_table (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    my_date DATE
)";
mysqli_query($conn, $createTableQuery);

Keywords

VARCHAR date data type MySQL PHP applications drawbacks

Related Questions