Feb 8 2014 · MySQL
I was curious what to name a variable holding a string with a date formatted for MySQL. Something like “startDateMysql” seemed silly, so I went digging as to what MySQL’s date format was based on.
The YYYY-MM-DD format used by MySQL is defined by ISO 8601.
The HH:MM:SS format is also defined by ISO 8601, but MySQL never adds the time zone designator, a ‘Z’ indicator for UTC or an offset from UTC. Without the time zone designator, the time is implied to be local time according to the standard, but MySQL returns non-local time without a designator, which is non-conformant.
When combining a date and time, MySQL omits the ‘T’ delimiter, which is allowed and permitted by “mutual agreement.”