[mysql] What difference between the DATE, TIME, DATETIME, and TIMESTAMP Types

I need to store both time and date in the mysql. So I used of NOW() function for that. But I don't know what should I use for type column im phpmyadmin. It should be noted that NOW() returns both time and date like this:

2014-11-11 12:45:34

Here is a solution, I can use of a separator for separating date and time (2014-11-11 and 12:45:34) and then store them in the DATE type and TIME type individually. Or I can use of VARCHAR type for storing both of them in one column. But I think these ways are not standard. what is standard type for storing both date and time ?

Here is my query: (also I don't know why NOW() function does not works)

INSERT INTO table (timedate) VALUES (NOW())

I have a slightly different perspective on the difference between a DATETIME and a TIMESTAMP. A DATETIME stores a literal value of a date and time with no reference to any particular timezone. So, I can set a DATETIME column to a value such as '2019-01-16 12:15:00' to indicate precisely when my last birthday occurred. Was this Eastern Standard Time? Pacific Standard Time? Who knows? Where the current session time zone of the server comes into play occurs when you set a DATETIME column to some value such as NOW(). The value stored will be the current date and time using the current session time zone in effect. But once a DATETIME column has been set, it will display the same regardless of what the current session time zone is.

A TIMESTAMP column on the other hand takes the '2019-01-16 12:15:00' value you are setting into it and interprets it in the current session time zone to compute an internal representation relative to 1/1/1970 00:00:00 UTC. When the column is displayed, it will be converted back for display based on whatever the current session time zone is. It's a useful fiction to think of a TIMESTAMP as taking the value you are setting and converting it from the current session time zone to UTC for storing and then converting it back to the current session time zone for displaying.

If my server is in San Francisco but I am running an event in New York that starts on 9/1/1029 at 20:00, I would use a TIMESTAMP column for holding the start time, set the session time zone to 'America/New York' and set the start time to '2009-09-01 20:00:00'. If I want to know whether the event has occurred or not, regardless of the current session time zone setting I can compare the start time with NOW(). Of course, for displaying in a meaningful way to a perspective customer, I would need to set the correct session time zone. If I did not need to do time comparisons, then I would probably be better off just using a DATETIME column, which will display correctly (with an implied EST time zone) regardless of what the current session time zone is.

TIMESTAMP LIMITATION

The TIMESTAMP type has a range of '1970-01-01 00:00:01' UTC to '2038-01-19 03:14:07' UTC and so it may not usable for your particular application. In that case you will have to use a DATETIME type. You will, of course, always have to be concerned that the current session time zone is set properly whenever you are using this type with date functions such as NOW().

Saty described the differences between them. For your practice, you can use datetime in order to keep the output of NOW().

For example:

CREATE TABLE Orders
(
  OrderId int NOT NULL,
  ProductName varchar(50) NOT NULL,
  OrderDate datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW(),
  PRIMARY KEY (OrderId)
)

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