PHP Date and Time Function

In this tutorial, we will see how to get the date & time using the date() & time() function in PHP, we will also see the various formatting options available with these functions & understand their implementation through the examples.

Date and time are some of the most frequently used operations in PHP while executing SQL queries or designing a website etc. PHP serves us with predefined functions for these tasks. Some of the predefined functions in PHP for date and time are discussed below.

PHP date() Function: The PHP date() function converts timestamp to a more readable date and time format.

Why do we need the date() function? 

The computer stores dates and times in a format called UNIX Timestamp, which measures time as a number of seconds since the beginning of the Unix epoch (midnight Greenwich Mean Time on January 1, 1970, i.e. January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT ). Since this is an impractical format for humans to read, PHP converts timestamp to a format that is readable and more understandable to humans. 

Syntax:

date(format, timestamp)

Explanation:

The format parameter in the date() function specifies the format of returned date and time.

The timestamp is an optional parameter, if it is not included then the current date and time will be used.

Example: The below program explains the usage of the date() function in PHP.

<?php
  echo "Today's date is :";
  $today = date("d/m/Y");
  echo $today;
?>

Output:

Today's date is : 25/01/2023

Formatting option available in date() function: The format parameter of the date() function is a string that can contain multiple characters allowing to generate the dates in various formats. Date-related formatting characters that are commonly used in the format string:

d: Represents day of the month; two digits with leading zeros (01 or 31).

D: Represents day of the week in the text as an abbreviation (Mon to Sun).

m: Represents month in numbers with leading zeros (01 or 12).

M: Represents month in text, abbreviated (Jan to Dec).

y: Represents year in two digits (08 or 14).

Y: Represents year in four digits (2008 or 2014).

The parts of the date can be separated by inserting other characters, like hyphens (-), dots (.), slashes (/), or spaces to add additional visual formatting.

Example: The below example explains the usage of the date() function in PHP.

<?php
  echo "Today's date in various formats:" . "\n";
  echo date("d/m/Y") . "\n";
  echo date("d-m-Y") . "\n";
  echo date("d.m.Y") . "\n";
  echo date("d.M.Y/D");
?>

Output:

Today's date in various formats:
25/01/2023
25-01-2023
25.01.2023
25.Jan.2023/Wed

The following characters can be used along with the date() function to format the time string:

h: Represents hour in 12-hour format with leading zeros (01 to 12).

H: Represents hour in 24-hour format with leading zeros (00 to 23).

i: Represents minutes with leading zeros (00 to 59).

s: Represents seconds with leading zeros (00 to 59).

a: Represents lowercase antemeridian and post meridian (am or pm).

A: Represents uppercase antemeridian and post meridian (AM or PM).

Example: The below example explains the usage of the date() function in PHP.

<?php
  echo date("h:i:s") . "\n";
  echo date("M,d,Y h:i:s A") . "\n";
  echo date("h:i a");
?>

Output:

07:15:17
Jan,25,2035 07:15:17 PM
07:15 pm

PHP time() Function: The time() function is used to get the current time as a Unix timestamp (the number of seconds since the beginning of the Unix epoch: January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT).

The following characters can be used to format the time string:

h: Represents hour in 12-hour format with leading zeros (01 to 12).

H: Represents hour in 24-hour format with leading zeros (00 to 23).

i: Represents minutes with leading zeros (00 to 59).

s: Represents seconds with leading zeros (00 to 59).

a: Represents lowercase antemeridian and post meridian (am or pm).

A: Represents uppercase antemeridian and post meridian (AM or PM).

Example: The below example explains the usage of the time() function in PHP.

<?php
  $timestamp = time();
  echo($timestamp);
  echo "\n";
  echo(date("F d, Y h:i:s A", $timestamp));
?>

Output:

1674654528
January 25, 2023 07:15:57 PM

PHP mktime() Function: The mktime() function is used to create the timestamp for a specific date and time. If no date and time are provided, the timestamp for the current date and time is returned.

Syntax:

mktime(hour, minute, second, month, day, year)

Example: The below example explains the usage of the mktime() function in PHP.

<?php
  echo mktime(19, 15, 59, 01, 25, 2023);
?>

Output:

1674654528

The above code creates a time stamp for 25th Jan 2023,19hrs 15mins 59secs.

PHP is a server-side scripting language designed specifically for web development. You can learn PHP from the ground up by following this PHP Tutorialand PHP Examples.