set DEFAULT to current date

is there a way to set the default for a column to be the current date, without making that column a timestamp? i'm trying to provide the current date as the starting point for a column that will ultimately be changed. it seems that if mysql would accept multiple select statements, i should be able to do it with the following syntax:

ALTER table paintings ALTER column creation_date SET DEFAULT (select current_date());

any suggestions?

Use the now() function as your default:

ALTER TABLE paintings CHANGE creation_date creation_date DATETIME DEFAULT 'now()' not null';

now() gives the current date & time.


[This message has been edited by netman (edited 09-13-99).]

that SQL statement doesn't work - it produces a default of 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Sorry... I tested this out with phpMyAdmin and phpMyAdmin automatically defaults the date to the current date.

Sorry.