Date and Time Operations with PHP

PHP is widely used for handling date and time operations in web applications. These operations are essential for showing dynamic content, scheduling daily tasks, and managing database records.

1. Getting the Current Date and Time

You can get the current date and time using PHP’s date() function. The following example returns a full date and time string including year, month, day, hour, minute, and second:

echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s');

Output: 2025-03-06 12:45:30

Alternatively, you can use a more readable format:

echo date('d/m/Y H:i'); // 06/03/2025 12:45

2. Formatting a Specific Date

Using date(), you can display the date in different formats:

echo date('l, d F Y');

Output: Thursday, 06 March 2025

Common format characters:

• Y – 4-digit year (2025)
• y – 2-digit year (25)
• m – Month number (03)
• d – Day of the month (06)
• l – Full name of the day (Thursday)
• F – Full name of the month (March)

3. Using Timestamps

A UNIX timestamp represents the number of seconds since January 1, 1970. Use time() to get the current timestamp:

echo time();

Example Output: 1740637530

Use strtotime() to convert a specific date to a timestamp:

echo strtotime('2025-04-15');

Output: 1744675200

Convert the timestamp back to a human-readable date:

echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s', 1744675200);

Output: 2025-04-15 00:00:00

4. Comparing Dates and Calculating Differences

You can calculate the difference between two dates using the DateTime class:

$date1 = new DateTime('2025-03-01');
$date2 = new DateTime('2025-03-06');
$diff = $date1->diff($date2);
echo 'Difference: ' . $diff->days . ' days';

Output: Difference: 5 days

Alternatively, use strtotime() to calculate the difference in seconds:

$diffInSeconds = strtotime('2025-03-06') - strtotime('2025-03-01');
echo $diffInSeconds / 86400 . ' days';

Output: 5 days

5. Setting Time Zones

To set the default time zone for your application:

date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Istanbul');
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s');

To list all available time zones:

print_r(timezone_identifiers_list());

6. Calculating Future or Past Dates

Use strtotime() to add days, weeks, or months to a date:

$nextMonth = date('Y-m-d', strtotime('+1 month'));
echo $nextMonth;

Or use the DateTime class for more flexibility:

$date = new DateTime('2025-03-06');
$date->modify('+2 weeks');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d');

Output: 2025-03-20