title: What's the recommended way to store current time using PHP and MySQL?
body: <p>My initial approach was:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$current = time(); // save this to column CURRENT_TIME with column type VARCHAR
  
  //retrieve it like this
  $retrieved = mysql_query(....) //assume query for getting the stored time value
  $time = strtotime($retrieved);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have come across the following approaches:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>use <code>gmstrftime</code> to handle gmt</li>
  <li>use <code>INT</code> instead of <code>VARCHAR</code> for the column</li>
  <li>use the mysql function <code>CURTIME</code> or <code>CURDATE</code></li>
  <li>use the <code>UNIX_TIMESTAMP</code> mysql function</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>none of which were using the <code>DATETIME</code> or <code>TIMESTAMP</code> mysql var type.</p>
  
  <p>Do you have a better approach for this one?</p>