Introduction:

Handling dates and times is a common requirement. MySQL, one of the most popular relational database systems, offers various techniques to convert strings into timestamps. In this blog, we will explore several methods to achieve this task.

Method 1: Using STR_TO_DATE()

The STR_TO_DATE() function in MySQL is a powerful tool for converting formatted strings to datetime values. This function takes two arguments: the string to be converted and a format specifier that defines how the string is structured.

SELECT STR_TO_DATE('2023-08-09 15:30:00', '%Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s') AS timestamp;

Output:

+---------------------+
| timestamp           |
+---------------------+
| 2023-08-09 15:30:00 |
+---------------------+

In this method, we use the STR_TO_DATE() function with the format specifier '%Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s' to convert the input string '2023-08-09 15:30:00' into a timestamp. The format specifier elements (%Y, %m, %d, %H, %i, %s) correspond to year, month, day, hour, minute, and second respectively.

Method 2: Using CAST() or CONVERT()

MySQL provides the CAST() and CONVERT() functions to explicitly convert data types. You can utilize these functions to convert a string into a timestamp.

SELECT CAST('2023-08-09 15:45:00' AS DATETIME) AS timestamp;

Output:

+---------------------+
| timestamp           |
+---------------------+
| 2023-08-09 15:45:00 |
+---------------------+

In this approach, we use the CAST() function to convert the input string '2023-08-09 15:45:00' into a DATETIME data type, effectively generating a timestamp.

Method 3: Using UNIX_TIMESTAMP()

UNIX_TIMESTAMP() function in MySQL converts a date or datetime value to a Unix timestamp (seconds since '1970-01-01 00:00:00' UTC).

SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(UNIX_TIMESTAMP('2023-08-09 16:00:00')) AS timestamp;

Output:

+---------------------+
| timestamp           |
+---------------------+
| 2023-08-09 16:00:00 |
+---------------------+

Here, we employ the UNIX_TIMESTAMP() function to convert the input string '2023-08-09 16:00:00' into a Unix timestamp, and then the FROM_UNIXTIME() function to convert it back into a human-readable timestamp.

Conclusion:

Handling dates and times in MySQL is an essential skill for database administrators and developers. In this blog, we explored multiple methods for converting strings to timestamps in MySQL. We started with the user-friendly STR_TO_DATE() function, followed by the explicit type conversion using CAST() or CONVERT(), and touched on UNIX_TIMESTAMP() for Unix timestamp conversions.