The TIMESTAMP column type provides a type that you can use to automatically mark INSERT or UPDATE operations with the current date and time. If you have multiple TIMESTAMP columns, only the first one is updated automatically.

mysql> use test;
Database changed
mysql> CREATE TABLE timetest ( id bigint( 20 ) NOT NULL auto_increment, curdate ti
mestamp, descr text, PRIMARY KEY (id));
Query OK,  0  rows affected ( 0 . 00  sec)

mysql> insert into timetest(descr) values( "Rec 01 ");
Query OK,  1  row affected ( 0 . 01  sec)

mysql> insert into timetest(descr) values( "Rec 02 ");
Query OK,  1  row affected ( 0 . 00  sec)

mysql> insert into timetest(descr) values( "Rec 03 ");
Query OK,  1  row affected ( 0 . 00  sec)

mysql> insert into timetest(descr) values( "Rec 04 ");
Query OK,  1  row affected ( 0 . 00  sec)

mysql> select * from timetest;
+ ----+----------------+--------+
 
| id | curdate        | descr  |
+ ----+----------------+--------+
 
|   1  |  20030212151910  | Rec  01  |
|   2  |  20030212151914  | Rec  02  |
|   3  |  20030212151918  | Rec  03  |
|   4  |  20030212151920  | Rec  04  |
+ ----+----------------+--------+
 
 4  rows in set ( 0 . 00  sec)

mysql> delete from timetest where id= 3 ;
Query OK,  1  row affected ( 0 . 03  sec)

mysql> delete from timetest where id= 4 ;
Query OK,  1  row affected ( 0 . 00  sec)

mysql> insert into timetest(descr) values( "Rec 04 ");
Query OK,  1  row affected ( 0 . 00  sec)

mysql> update timetest set descr= "UPD Row1"  where id= 1 ;
Query OK,  1  row affected ( 0 . 00  sec)
Rows matched:  1   Changed:  1   Warnings:  0 

mysql> select * from timetest;
+ ----+----------------+----------+
 
| id | curdate        | descr    |
+ ----+----------------+----------+
 
|   1  |  20030212152049  | UPD Row1 |
|   2  |  20030212151914  | Rec  02    |
|   5  |  20030212151958  | Rec  04    |
+ ----+----------------+----------+
 
 3  rows in set ( 0 . 00  sec)