timestamp or int in mysql

Might depend on how you want to use it. Using int, it may be a bit easier and faster to compare values in certain circumstances. For example, you want to see if a certain interval has passed since the last login.

PHP Code:

if($last_login + $check_interval < time()){ ... 


On the other hand, the mysql DATETIME type is easily used to make a PHP DateTime object. From there it's easy to get a display string formatted just about any way you want.

The DATETIME type is handy when you want to automatically capture the last time a record is updated. For instance, consider a user profile where a column is defined like this

Code:

`last_updated` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

will capture the update time without any added code on your part.