How to insert TIMESTAMP into my MySQL table?

Question

In the MySQL table I have a field called date its type is called timestamp and the default is CURRENT_TIMESTAMP. However, if I leave the field blank in MySQL I get an error. When I try to insert something into it like time() I receive the date as 0000-00-00 00:00:00.

<?php

    $name         = "";
    $email        = "";
    $subject      = "";
    $comments     = "";
    $nameError    = "";
    $emailError   = "";
    $subjectError = "";
    $x            = 5;
    function filterData($data)
    {
        $data = htmlspecialchars($data);
        $data = stripslashes($data);
        return $data;
    }
    $connection = mysql_connect('host', 'user', 'pass');
    if (!$connection) {
        die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
    }
    
    
    $select_database = mysql_select_db("contact");
    
    if (!$select_database) {
        echo "could not select database " . mysql_error();
        
    }
    if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
        //handles the name 
        $name = filterData($_POST["name"]);
        if (empty($name)) {
            $nameError = "please don't leave the name field blank";
        }
        //handles the email
        $email = filterData($_POST["email"]);
        if (empty($email)) {
            $emailError = "please don't leave the email field blank";
        }
        
        //handles the subject
        $subject = filterData($_POST["subject"]);
        if (empty($subject)) {
            $subjectError = "please don't leave this field blank";
        }
        
        $comments = filterData($_POST["comments"]);
        
    }
    
    $insertation = "INSERT INTO contactinfo (name, email, subject, date, comments)
        VALUES ('$name', '$email', '$subject', '', '$comments')";
    
    $insertationQuery = mysql_query($insertation, $connection);
    
    if (!$insertationQuery) {
        echo "Could not process your information " . mysql_error();
    } else {
        echo "Thank you for submitting the information";
    }
    
?>

Answer 1

In addition to checking your table setup to confirm that the field is set to NOT NULL with a default of CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, you can insert date/time values from PHP by writing them in a string format compatible with MySQL.

 $timestamp = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");

This will give you the current date and time in a string format that you can insert into MySQL.