title: how to get unixtimestamp from variable
body: <p>I have dates stored in a mysql database in the default date format YYYY-MM-DD using field name "depDate".
  I need to retrieve and convert them to a UNIXTIMESTAMP format to compare with other dates.</p>
  
  <p>Wed, 01 Jan 2014 12:00:00 GMT is "1388577600" and 
  Wed, 31 Dec 2014 12:00:00 GMT is "1420027200"</p>
  
  <pre><code>$query1 = mysql_query("SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP(depDate), UNIX_TIMESTAMP(balDate), depPaid_czk, depositAmt FROM `tbl_finance` WHERE depositAmt &gt; 0 ORDER BY depositAmt ASC"); 
  
  while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query1)) {
  $depDate = $row["depDate"];
  $balDate = $row["balDate"];
  
  echo $depDate;
  echo "&lt;br&gt;";
  echo $balDate;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>};</p>
  
  <p>I can't figure out why it doesn't work. When I use "depDate" I get output in the form of YYYY-MM-DD, but I need it in this form "1388577600".</p>