What are the potential issues with storing timestamps in a non-standard format in a database?

Storing timestamps in a non-standard format in a database can lead to difficulties when sorting, filtering, or performing date calculations on the data. To avoid these issues, it is best to store timestamps in a standard format like Unix timestamp or ISO 8601 format. 

// Storing timestamps in a standard format (Unix timestamp)
$timestamp = time(); // Get current Unix timestamp
$query = "INSERT INTO table_name (timestamp_column) VALUES ($timestamp)";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Retrieving timestamps in a standard format
$query = "SELECT timestamp_column FROM table_name";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    $timestamp = $row['timestamp_column'];
    // Use $timestamp as Unix timestamp for sorting, filtering, or calculations
}

Keywords

timestamps non-standard format database data integrity PHP

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