In your particular case, you can do both from/to that format inside MySQL:
mysql> SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(875996580);
        -> '1997-10-04 22:23:00'
mysql> SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(875996580) + 0;
        -> 19971004222300
mysql> SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(UNIX_TIMESTAMP(),
    ->                      '%Y %D %M %h:%i:%s %x');
        -> '2003 6th August 06:22:58 2003'


mysql> SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP();
        -> 882226357
mysql> SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP('1997-10-04 22:23:00');
        -> 875996580

[download]

See the linked doc page for details and other examples. I would also suggest to store dates using one of the native date formats, like datetime.

Flavio
perl -ple'$_=reverse' <<<ti.xittelop@oivalf

Don't fool yourself.

In reply to Re: how to calculate time that looks like 1138597506 by polettix
in thread how to calculate time that looks like 1138597506 by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.