❮ PHP Date/Time Reference
Example
Format a local date and time and return the formatted date strings:
<?php
// Prints the day
echo date("l") . "<br>";
// Prints the day, date, month, year, time, AM or PM
echo date("l jS \of F Y h:i:s A");
?>
Try it Yourself »
Definition and Usage
The date() function formats a local date and time, and returns the formatted date string.
Syntax
Parameter Values
format | Required. Specifies the format of the outputted date string. The following characters can be used:
and the following predefined constants can also be used (available since PHP 5.1.0):
|
timestamp | Optional. Specifies an integer Unix timestamp. Default is the current local time (time()) |
Technical Details
Returns a formatted date string on success. FALSE on failure + an E_WARNING |
4+ |
PHP 5.1.0: Added E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone errors. Valid range of timestamp is now from Fri, 13 Dec 1901 20:45:54 GMT to Tue, 19 Jan 2038 03:14:07 GMT. Before version 5.1.0 timestamp was limited from 01-01-1970 to 19-01-2038 on some systems (e.g. Windows). PHP 5.1.1: Added constants of standard date/time formats that can be used to specify the format parameter |
❮ PHP Date/Time Reference
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) |