How should I store year? as Int or Char(4) ?

[dlite922]

I've always stored year (like of a vehicles make or a home's built year) as an int.

What datatype do you use to store a 4 or 2 digit year?

I like int for comparison reasons.

Let me know your thoughts. Easy question right? :)





Dan

[Atli]

Hey.

I would most likely use the YEAR type. It's only a single byte and can store years between 1901-2155.
If that doesn't work for some reason, I would go with a SMALLINT. It's twice as big as YEAR, but it can store a much larger range.

I would never use Char(4) though. It's just... wrong :)

[dlite922]

hmmm YEAR type. I guess that's better than INT since I can use the date functions more flawlessly with them too.

INT is way too large.

Good Advice From Experts as Always!



Dan