php long error

[future-architect]

I have the following code and input, and am getting this error:

code:

$date = date('D, d M Y H:i:s', $date);

input:

1332092255

error:

Warning:  date() expects parameter 2 to be long, string given in (page) on line 72

[bregent]

What is the value in $date before calling the date() function? Where is it coming from? Is it a string or int?

[future-architect]

the value is 1332092255.  it comes from mysql database.  i have it listed as varchar there.  not sure that that should affect it though. 

[bregent]

The PHP reference manual lists the argument as an int, so storing it as a varchar would defintely cause a problem in that regard. However, the error message is confusing, making it sound like it would accept a string value. I'm not sure how to interpret that.  Why are you storing it as a varchar in the first place? It's a numeric value and should be stored as such. For a quick test, try casting it as an int

$date = date('D, d M Y H:i:s', (int)$date);

[future-architect]

ah, i think i remember now... i had it set to varchar because when i had it set to int, it was cutting of characters, and i wasnt sure what was bigger than int, so i just used varchar.  what should i use for this field to make sure nothing gets cut off?

[bregent]

An unsigned int should do it.

[future-architect]

what about BIGINT?

and what does "unsigned" mean?  does it mean, no set value length?

[bregent]

It should not need to be as big as a BIGINT. Did you try the casting test I suggested?

Unsigned means that it does not store negative numbers. By default, numeric datatypes are signed, so they support both negative and positive. Unsigned means that only positive values can be stored. As a result, unsigned columns can store twice as many values as signed. Still, given the values of unix time stamp, a signed int should work.

As a troubleshooting measure, try the code I suggested a few posts back.