100% sort accurancy?

[itandme]

Hi again!

I need a little script, that grabs the ABSOLUETLY latest mysql database input (just one), as its gona be for a "Game of the month" thingy. I am not really sure that timestamp is very accurate, I mean, dates do return.

Cant I just dont use a id collumn with auto_increament, as it goes from 0 and up, and sort after id set LIMIT to 1? Is that 100% safe? I only need THE ONE latest entry.

Or whats the best to use for this?

[eoghain]

Using auto increment is a good way to do this, as long as you don't delete anything from the table, and never screw up your database.

A timestamp is a good choice as long as you don't allow anyone to change that timestamp except for your entry script. A timestamp will never be duplicated as long as you keep the date of your system correct and use that as the entry time. A timestamp is the number of seconds since a given date (usually Jan 1 1970), so it's not going to get repeated.

As fas as getting the latest using LIMIT is a good choice just make sure you build your ORDER by clause correctly.