Store php datetime in mysql database

Question

I can't believe I can't do this, but I want to be able to store the current date and time from php in to a mysql table.

The column in the table is type datetime. I've tried this

$current_date = date("Y-m-d"); $my_date = strtotime($current_date); INSERT INTO my_table (date_time) VALUES ('$my_date') 

but my timestamp comes up as 0000-00-00 00:00:00

This must be so easy to do but I just can't get it working! I want to use the timestamp from php rather than using the mysql now() function

Answer 1

Try this:

$my_date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); INSERT INTO my_table (date_time) VALUES ('$my_date'); 

In the date-format parameter of the date function, use :
'H' for 24hr format
'h' for 12hr format

Answer 2

Don't save it as the Unix Timestamp (which strtotime() outputs), but as "2012-12-02 13:00" into the DATETIME column.