PHP Time Functions Tutorial

Introduction

PHP provides a range of functions to work with date and time. These functions allow you to get the current time, format dates and times, and manipulate them in various ways. In this tutorial, we will cover some of the most commonly used time functions in PHP.

Getting the Current Date and Time

The date() function is used to format a local date and time, and it can be used to get the current date and time. The function takes two arguments: a format string and an optional timestamp. If no timestamp is provided, the current date and time is used.

<?php
echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
?>
                

Formatting Dates and Times

The date() function allows you to format a date and time in various ways using different format characters. Here are some common format characters:

• Y: A full numeric representation of a year (e.g., 2023)
• m: Numeric representation of a month, with leading zeros (e.g., 01 to 12)
• d: Day of the month, with leading zeros (e.g., 01 to 31)
• H: 24-hour format of an hour, with leading zeros (e.g., 00 to 23)
• i: Minutes, with leading zeros (e.g., 00 to 59)
• s: Seconds, with leading zeros (e.g., 00 to 59)

<?php
echo date("l, F j, Y");
?>
                

Getting the Timestamp

The time() function returns the current Unix timestamp, which is the number of seconds since January 1, 1970. This can be useful for various calculations and comparisons.

<?php
echo time();
?>
                

Converting a Timestamp to a Readable Date

You can convert a Unix timestamp to a readable date using the date() function. Simply pass the timestamp as the second argument.

<?php
$timestamp = 1696526122;
echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp);
?>
                

Adding and Subtracting Time

You can add or subtract time using the strtotime() function, which parses an English textual datetime description into a Unix timestamp. This can be combined with the date() function to format the result.

<?php
$now = time();
$tomorrow = strtotime("+1 day", $now);
echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $tomorrow);
?>
                

<?php
$now = time();
$lastWeek = strtotime("-1 week", $now);
echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $lastWeek);
?>
                

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we covered the basic time functions in PHP, including how to get the current date and time, format dates and times, get the Unix timestamp, convert timestamps to readable dates, and add or subtract time. These functions are essential for handling date and time in PHP applications.