Search code examples
mysqltimestampnumericsqldatatypes

Inconsistencies with how MySQL stores INT?

In many of my MySQL database tables, I have been storing timestamps (from the php time()) in int UNSIGNED fields. However, time() returns 13 digit values if I recall correctly, and INT UNSIGNED stores values up to 2147483647 which is only 10 digits in length. Therefore any value returned by time() will be too large a number to be stored in an int field.

However, none of my timestamps have been truncated, so how is it able to store such large values? Is it a database inconsistency or am I missing something?

Solution

  • 1343399732 seconds has currently elapsed since the epoch (1970) , which can well be stored in a signed int.

    It's dealing with seconds related to around the year 2038 that will start cause you trouble when you store the seconds in a signed 32 bit int.