formatting a mysql timestamp

[Anon]

Hey there,

I've looked over both the mysql and the php manuals for the answer to this, but no matter what i do, i still get the same result.

here's what my query looks like:

SELECT title, body, date_format(date_e, '%m %d %Y') FROM $db_tbl_announce ORDER BY aid DESC

The date_e collum is filled with a mysql timestamp, but when i run the query, nothing is returned for date_e. I'm sure it must just be a simple syntax problem.

Thanks in advance!

[Anon]

hold up, i think i've figured it out. When i add an "as" statment to the query it magically works!

SELECT title, body, date_format(date_e, '%m %d, %Y') AS date_e FROM $db_tbl_announce ORDER BY aid DESC

So why is the "as" necessary? What is it doing?

Thanks.