timestamp displaying as -1

etoast

i know people are going to want to point me to the php or mysql manual for this one but i really cannot see what i want there. here is my script:

$now = time();
$when = $row['when'];
$diff = $now - $when;

if($diff < 1209600) {
...do whatever...
}

the $row['when'] is a timestamp(14) column called 'when' from mysql that relates to the date a row got added. i am trying to calculate rows older than 14 days and then manipulate them. i echo out the above values for $now, $when and $diff and the $when one comes out as -1. if i just print the 'when' value directly it is fine, a 14 digit number as you'd expect. if anyone can advise where i am going wrong i would really appreciate it.

thank you.

xblue

etoast, the mysql data type timestamp is not a unix timestamp, that may be why it is failing.

there is a mysql function for converting (UNIX_TIMESTAMP()), but there may be other options depending on what exactly you want to do.

etoast

thanks. i want to do the calculation outside of the mysql SELECT query. so in my query i am pulling out a timestamp(14) and i want to calculate the time between that value and the current time in days.

most examples i have seen do the calculation in the MYSQL because they are limiting the rows by time. i'm manipulating all the rows by time, so i want them all to come back. that's why i think i need to use PHP to query it.

xblue

not quite sure if I follow you, but I understand you do have your reasons for a) storing the date as mysql timestamp and b) doing the calculations in php.

if so, still shouldn't be much of a problem, from my understanding you could simply fetch the timestamp as unix timestamp in the query, then do your calculations, like

SELECT when, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(when) AS unixwhen FROM table ...

and then access it with
$when = $row['unixwhen'];