Question

Is there a difference between using PHPs time() and using new MongoDate()?
I need to store created_at and updated_at dates for each documents in by mongoDB collection
so that I can query them by date (for example documents updated last week).

From what I can see time() and new MongoDate() produces the same result?

Answer 1

That’s because time() is default for the MongoDate constructor, from the manual:

public MongoDate::__construct ([ int $sec = time() [, int $usec = 0 ]] )

You should use MongoDate objects to query MongoDB.

If you use the raw output of time(), you will store/query for an integer. When you use MongoDate, you will be using MongoDB’s Date type which gives you some additional benefits.