database - Difference between NOW(), SYSDATE() & CURRENT_DATE() in MySQL

Question

What difference between NOW() , SYSDATE() , CURRENT_DATE() in MySQL and where it can be used in real scenario .

I tried NOW(),SYSDATE(),Current_Date() when I insert data into a table and column datatype is TIMESTAMP all are given same date and time.

Answer 1

Current_date() will only give you the date.
now() give you the datetime when the statement,procedure etc... started.
sysdate() give you the current datetime.
Look at the seconds after waiting 5 seconds between now()1 sysdate()1 with the following query (scroll to the right):

select now(),sysdate(),current_date(),sleep(5),now(),sysdate();

-- will give
-- now()    sysdate()   current_date()  sleep(5)    now()1  sysdate()1
-- 6/10/2014 2:50:04 AM 6/10/2014 2:50:04 AM    6/10/2014 12:00:00 AM   0   6/10/2014 2:50:04 AM 6/10/2014 2:50:09 AM