I think it would depend on what you are going to do with the
data once it is in the database. If it will only ever be used as a pure
text field, then leaving it as a varchar would not be bad. On the other
hand, if you want to be able to use any of the date fucntions or use it
as a date in a where clause (i.e. WHERE begin > <some date here> ), then
I would convert it to one of the date types. This way it could be
indexed. Also, if you only need the date, use a DATE field, as it would
be smaller and thus faster. If you need the time also, use DATETIME.-----Original Message----- From: Ron McKeever [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 10:31 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Column type Hi I have a .txt file that is loaded into my table. This is done using LOAD DATA INFILE.... One of the columns data is a unix timestamp from the .txt file. The column is called begin. I have created the column as a varchar before and then converted the date using FROM_UNIXTIME(), so it can be readable. My question is: Should I create this column "begin" as "DATETIME, DATE, or TIMESTAMP" or since I'm converting the unix time leave it as a varchar??? Thanks, Ron -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
