Question

Does some PDO::PARAM_??? exist which can be used for dates or timestamps?

Sample code:

$sql = "UPDATE my_table SET current_date = :date WHERE id = 43";
$statement = $pdo->prepare ($sql);
$statement->bindValue (":date", strtotime (date ("Y-m-d H:i:s")), PDO::PARAM_STR);
$statement->execute ();

Answer 1

When writing a date in an SQL query, you are writing it as a string; you have to do the same with prepared statements, and use PDO::PARAM_STR, like you did in the portion of code you proposed.

And for the “timestamp”, if by “timestamp” you mean:

• The MySQL timestamp data-type: it’s the same, you’ll pass it as a string
• The PHP Unix timestamp, which is an integer: you’ll pass it an int.