Question

please i have a modified_by column in mysql table with string like this "40,1280825613|40,1280825617". the "40" is the id of the user that made changes to the record and "1280825613" is the date string. The | separates different periods of change.

How do i change the entire column to a readable date without affecting the user id. either mysql or php solution is welcome. Thank you so much.

Answer 1

I’d recommend a PHP script. You’ll need to make two columns modified_by to retain the user id and modified for the timestamp. If there are multiple modified_by for each record you’ll probably want to make a separate table, i.e. revisions. This would be the best way to store the data relationship. I’d also recommend not storing formatted data. You should already see why that’s not a good idea. The database is the raw data, use PHP to format it.

Once you have that setup, just:

1. Select the data from the old table.
2. Loop over the records
3. explode() the column on |
4. Loop over the array
5. explode() the element on ,
6. Insert into new columns/table

Forgive me, but I’d rather teach you how to fish.