What are the potential pitfalls of storing date values in a database as strings instead of using the DATE data type?

Storing date values as strings in a database can lead to inconsistencies in formatting, difficulty in performing date calculations, and increased storage space. To avoid these pitfalls, it is recommended to use the DATE data type provided by the database management system, which ensures proper storage and manipulation of date values. 

// Using DATE data type in SQL query to store date values
$query = "INSERT INTO table_name (date_column) VALUES (DATE_FORMAT(NOW(), '%Y-%m-%d'))";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Retrieving date values from the database
$query = "SELECT DATE_FORMAT(date_column, '%Y-%m-%d') AS formatted_date FROM table_name";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
$row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
$date = $row['formatted_date'];

Keywords

PHP database DATE data type date values string storage

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