PHP Date/Time Introduction
The date/time functions allow you to get the date and time from the server where your PHP script runs. You can then use the date/time functions to format the date and time in several ways.
Note: These functions depend on the locale settings of your server. Remember to take daylight saving time and leap years into consideration when working with these functions.
Installation
The PHP date/time functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.
Runtime Configuration
The behavior of these functions is affected by settings in php.ini:
| date.timezone | The default timezone [used by all date/time functions] | "" | PHP 5.1 |
| date.default_latitude | The default latitude [used by date_sunrise[] and date_sunset[]] | "31.7667" | PHP 5.0 |
| date.default_longitude | The default longitude [used by date_sunrise[] and date_sunset[]] | "35.2333" | PHP 5.0 |
| date.sunrise_zenith | The default sunrise zenith [used by date_sunrise[] and date_sunset[]] | "90.83" | PHP 5.0 |
| date.sunset_zenith | The default sunset zenith [used by date_sunrise[] and date_sunset[]] | "90.83" | PHP 5.0 |
PHP Date/Time Functions
| checkdate[] | Validates a Gregorian date |
| date_add[] | Adds days, months, years, hours, minutes, and seconds to a date |
| date_create_from_format[] | Returns a new DateTime object formatted according to a specified format |
| date_create[] | Returns a new DateTime object |
| date_date_set[] | Sets a new date |
| date_default_timezone_get[] | Returns the default timezone used by all date/time functions |
| date_default_timezone_set[] | Sets the default timezone used by all date/time functions |
| date_diff[] | Returns the difference between two dates |
| date_format[] | Returns a date formatted according to a specified format |
| date_get_last_errors[] | Returns the warnings/errors found in a date string |
| date_interval_create_from_date_string[] | Sets up a DateInterval from the relative parts of the string |
| date_interval_format[] | Formats the interval |
| date_isodate_set[] | Sets the ISO date |
| date_modify[] | Modifies the timestamp |
| date_offset_get[] | Returns the timezone offset |
| date_parse_from_format[] | Returns an associative array with detailed info about a specified date, according to a specified format |
| date_parse[] | Returns an associative array with detailed info about a specified date |
| date_sub[] | Subtracts days, months, years, hours, minutes, and seconds from a date |
| date_sun_info[] | Returns an array containing info about sunset/sunrise and twilight begin/end, for a specified day and location |
| date_sunrise[] | Returns the sunrise time for a specified day and location |
| date_sunset[] | Returns the sunset time for a specified day and location |
| date_time_set[] | Sets the time |
| date_timestamp_get[] | Returns the Unix timestamp |
| date_timestamp_set[] | Sets the date and time based on a Unix timestamp |
| date_timezone_get[] | Returns the time zone of the given DateTime object |
| date_timezone_set[] | Sets the time zone for the DateTime object |
| date[] | Formats a local date and time |
| getdate[] | Returns date/time information of a timestamp or the current local date/time |
| gettimeofday[] | Returns the current time |
| gmdate[] | Formats a GMT/UTC date and time |
| gmmktime[] | Returns the Unix timestamp for a GMT date |
| gmstrftime[] | Formats a GMT/UTC date and time according to locale settings |
| idate[] | Formats a local time/date as integer |
| localtime[] | Returns the local time |
| microtime[] | Returns the current Unix timestamp with microseconds |
| mktime[] | Returns the Unix timestamp for a date |
| strftime[] | Formats a local time and/or date according to locale settings |
| strptime[] | Parses a time/date generated with strftime[] |
| strtotime[] | Parses an English textual datetime into a Unix timestamp |
| time[] | Returns the current time as a Unix timestamp |
| timezone_abbreviations_list[] | Returns an associative array containing dst, offset, and the timezone name |
| timezone_identifiers_list[] | Returns an indexed array with all timezone identifiers |
| timezone_location_get[] | Returns location information for a specified timezone |
| timezone_name_from_ abbr[] | Returns the timezone name from abbreviation |
| timezone_name_get[] | Returns the name of the timezone |
| timezone_offset_get[] | Returns the timezone offset from GMT |
| timezone_open[] | Creates new DateTimeZone object |
| timezone_transitions_get[] | Returns all transitions for the timezone |
| timezone_version_get[] | Returns the version of the timezonedb |
PHP Predefined Date/Time Constants
| DATE_ATOM | Atom [example: 2019-01-18T14:13:03+00:00] |
| DATE_COOKIE | HTTP Cookies [example: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 UTC] |
| DATE_ISO8601 | ISO-8601 [example: 2019-01-18T14:13:03+0000] |
| DATE_RFC822 | RFC 822 [example: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 +0000] |
| DATE_RFC850 | RFC 850 [example: Friday, 18-Jan-19 14:13:03 UTC] |
| DATE_RFC1036 | RFC 1036 [example: Friday, 18-Jan-19 14:13:03 +0000] |
| DATE_RFC1123 | RFC 1123 [example: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 +0000] |
| DATE_RFC2822 | RFC 2822 [example: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 +0000] |
| DATE_RFC3339 | Same as DATE_ATOM [since PHP 5.1.3] |
| DATE_RFC3339_EXTENDED | RFC3339 Extended format [since PHP 7.0.0] [example: 2019-01-18T16:34:01.000+00:00] |
| DATE_RSS | RSS [Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 +0000] |
| DATE_W3C | World Wide Web Consortium [example: 2019-01-18T14:13:03+00:00] |
| SUNFUNCS_RET_TIMESTAMP | Timestamp [since PHP 5.1.2] |
| SUNFUNCS_RET_STRING | Hours:minutes [example: 09:41] [since PHP 5.1.2] |
| SUNFUNCS_RET_DOUBLE | Hours as a floating point number [example: 9.75] [since PHP 5.1.2] |
What does date [] do in PHP?
The date/time functions allow you to get the date and time from the server where your PHP script runs. You can then use the date/time functions to format the date and time in several ways.
Which function is set date in PHP?
The PHP date[] function is used to format a date and/or a time.
What does time [] do in PHP?
The time[] function returns the current time in the number of seconds since the Unix Epoch [January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT].
What does NOW [] return in PHP?
MySQL function NOW[] returns the current timestamp.