Question

I have a VARCHAR field completion_date that contains a timestamp date (ex 1319193919). Is it possible to run a query on such a field that compares it with NOW() ? I’m trying:

SELECT * FROM (`surveys`) WHERE `active` = '1' AND `archived` = '0' AND `completion_date` > 'NOW()'

But the results are not really what I’m expecting, is this cause of the VARCHAR? If so, what kind of date field am I better off using? The data must remain a Linux timestamp.

Answer 1

Convert NOW() to a timestamp using UNIX_TIMESTAMP()

SELECT * 
FROM (`surveys`) 
WHERE `active` = '1' AND `archived` = '0' AND `completion_date` > UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())

Also, remove the quotes you had around 'NOW()'

mysql> SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW());
+-----------------------+
| UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW()) |
+-----------------------+
|            1319288622 |
+-----------------------+

N.B. In case you need it, the inverse of this function is FROM_UNIXTIME() to convert a timestamp into the default MySQL DATETIME format.

As mentioned in comments below, if you have the ability to make the change, it is recommended to use a real DATETIME type instead of VARCHAR() for this data.