MySQL time date difference in Minutes

Here's a handy MySQL function from finding the number of minutes since a given date. In the following example, there is a table called message with 3 colums - id, pubdate and message;

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE, pubdate, now()), id, message from message;

Messages from the last 5 minutes

You can get all messages from the last 5 minutes with the following example;

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE, pubdate, now()), id, message from message where (TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE, pubdate, now()) < 5);

This method is quite handy for systems displaying live data.