What is the MYSQL variant of time()?

Question

In my script I store a PHP time() value in the database. I've got a simple solution, but I bet it is certainly not the most 'clean' solution.

   <?php
   $time = time(); 
   mysql_query("DELETE FROM table WHERE expire < '$time';");
   ?>

Is there an MySQL function with the same format as the PHP time() function?

• my column is type INT(10)
• I just need to do a simple server-side comparison, I never have to display it.

Thanks in advance! PS: Please support my English by correcting me :)

EDIT: I'll go with the UNIX_TIMESTAMP(), thanks all, for helping me and for discussing about the best option.

Answer 1

Yes there is. You can use the now function.

mysql_query("DELETE * FROM table WHERE expire < NOW();");

Edit: I encourage you to use this function and not UNIX_TIMESTAMP. Reason is that you should have your column type as DATE and not long. In that case, you can do time functions on a date column where you can't easily do on a time stamp value.

Answer 2

SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP(); // returns 1298999053 for example

so:

mysql_query("DELETE * FROM table WHERE expire < UNIX_TIMESTAMP()");

Answer 3

In MySQL the function is called now().

DELETE * FROM table WHERE expire < now();