The date/time functions in PHP let you retrieve the date and time from the server where your script runs and format it in various ways.
Note: These functions rely on your server’s locale settings. Be sure to account for daylight saving time and leap years when using them.
The PHP date/time functions are built into the PHP core, so no additional installation is needed to use them.
The behavior of these functions is influenced by settings in the php.ini configuration file.
|
Name |
Description |
Default |
PHP Version |
|
date.timezone |
The default timezone used by all date/time functions |
“” |
PHP 5.1 |
|
date.default_latitude |
The default latitude used by the |
“31.7667” |
PHP 5.0 |
|
date.default_longitude |
The default longitude used by the |
“35.2333” |
PHP 5.0 |
|
date.sunrise_zenith |
The default sunrise zenith used by the |
“90.83” |
PHP 5.0 |
|
date.sunset_zenith |
The default sunset zenith used by the date_sunrise() and date_sunset() functions |
“90.83” |
PHP 5.0 |
|
Function |
Description |
|
checkdate() |
Validates a date in the Gregorian calendar. |
|
date_add() |
Adds days, months, years, hours, minutes, and seconds to a date. |
|
date_create_from_format() |
Returns a new |
|
date_create() |
Returns a new |
|
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 for all date/time functions. |
|
date_diff() |
Returns the interval between two dates. |
|
date_format() |
Returns a date formatted according to a specified pattern. |
|
date_get_last_errors() |
Returns any warnings or errors found in a date string. |
|
date_interval_create_from_date_string() |
Creates a |
|
date_interval_format() |
Formats the interval. |
|
date_isodate_set() |
Sets the date in ISO format. |
|
date_modify() |
Adjusts the timestamp. |
|
date_offset_get() |
Returns the timezone offset. |
|
date_parse_from_format() |
Returns an associative array with detailed information about a specified date, formatted according to a given pattern. |
|
date_parse() |
Returns an associative array with detailed information about a specified date. |
|
date_sub() |
Subtracts days, months, years, hours, minutes, and seconds from a date. |
|
date_sun_info() |
Returns an array with information about sunrise, sunset, and twilight start/end times for a specified day and location. |
|
date_sunrise() |
Returns the sunset time for a specified date and location. |
|
date_sunset() |
Returns the sunset time for a specified date and location. |
|
date_time_set() |
Sets the time. |
|
date_timestamp_get() |
Returns a Unix timestamp. |
|
date_timestamp_set() |
Sets the date and time using a Unix timestamp. |
|
date_timezone_get() |
Returns the time zone of the specified |
|
date_timezone_set() |
Sets the time zone for the |
|
date() |
Formats a local date and time. |
|
getdate() |
Returns date and time information for a given timestamp or the current local date and 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 based on locale settings. |
|
idate() |
Formats a local time/date as an integer. |
|
localtime() |
Returns the local time. |
|
microtime() |
Returns the current Unix timestamp including microseconds. |
|
mktime() |
Returns the Unix timestamp for a specified date. |
|
strftime() |
Formats a local time and/or date based on locale settings. |
|
strptime() |
Parses a time/date string generated with |
|
strtotime() |
Converts an English textual datetime description into a Unix timestamp. |
|
time() |
Returns the current time as a Unix timestamp. |
|
timezone_abbreviations_list() |
Returns an associative array containing |
|
timezone_identifiers_list() |
Returns an indexed array of all timezone identifiers. |
|
timezone_location_get() |
Returns location information for a specified time zone. |
|
timezone_name_from_ abbr() |
Returns the timezone name corresponding to a given abbreviation. |
|
timezone_name_get() |
Returns the name of the timezone. |
|
timezone_offset_get() |
Returns the timezone offset from GMT. |
|
timezone_open() |
Creates a new |
|
timezone_transitions_get() |
Returns all transitions for the timezone. |
|
timezone_version_get() |
Returns the version of the timezone database. |
|
Constant |
Description |
|
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) |