PHP Date
Working with dates and times in PHP
📅 What is PHP Date?
PHP date functions help you format and manipulate dates and times. The date() function converts timestamps into readable formats for displaying on web pages.
<?php
// Display current date
echo date("Y-m-d");
// Outputs: 2025-03-10
?>
Output:
2025-03-10
Date Format Characters
Day Formats
Display day in various formats
<?php
echo date("d"); // 01-31
echo date("D"); // Mon-Sun
?>Month Formats
Display month in different ways
<?php
echo date("m"); // 01-12
echo date("M"); // Jan-Dec
?>Year Formats
Display year formats
<?php
echo date("Y"); // 2025
echo date("y"); // 25
?>Time Formats
Display time in various formats
<?php
echo date("H:i:s"); // 14:30:45
echo date("h:i A"); // 02:30 PM
?>🔹 Basic Date Function
The date() function formats a timestamp into a readable date string. Use format characters to customize the output according to your needs.
<?php
// Current date and time
echo "Today is: " . date("Y-m-d") . "<br>";
echo "Current time: " . date("H:i:s") . "<br>";
echo "Full date: " . date("l, F j, Y") . "<br>";
echo "Short format: " . date("m/d/Y") . "<br>";
?>Output:
Today is: 2025-03-10
Current time: 14:30:45
Full date: Monday, March 10, 2025
Short format: 03/10/2025
🔹 Timestamp Functions
Timestamps represent dates as seconds since January 1, 1970. Use time() to get current timestamp and mktime() to create custom timestamps.
<?php
// Current timestamp
$now = time();
echo "Current timestamp: " . $now . "<br>";
// Create specific date timestamp
// mktime(hour, minute, second, month, day, year)
$birthday = mktime(0, 0, 0, 5, 15, 1990);
echo "Birthday timestamp: " . $birthday . "<br>";
// Format timestamp
echo "Birthday: " . date("F j, Y", $birthday);
?>Output:
Current timestamp: 1741615845
Birthday timestamp: 642643200
Birthday: May 15, 1990
🔹 String to Date Conversion
Convert date strings to timestamps using strtotime(). This function parses English text descriptions of dates into Unix timestamps for calculations.
<?php
// Convert string to timestamp
$date1 = strtotime("2025-12-25");
echo "Christmas: " . date("l, F j", $date1) . "<br>";
// Relative dates
echo "Tomorrow: " . date("Y-m-d", strtotime("tomorrow")) . "<br>";
echo "Next week: " . date("Y-m-d", strtotime("+1 week")) . "<br>";
echo "Last month: " . date("Y-m-d", strtotime("-1 month")) . "<br>";
?>Output:
Christmas: Thursday, December 25
Tomorrow: 2025-03-11
Next week: 2025-03-17
Last month: 2025-02-10
🔹 Date Calculations
Perform date arithmetic by converting dates to timestamps, doing calculations, and converting back. This helps calculate differences and future dates.
<?php
// Calculate days until event
$today = time();
$event = strtotime("2025-12-31");
$diff = $event - $today;
$days = floor($diff / (60 * 60 * 24));
echo "Days until New Year: " . $days . "<br>";
// Add days to date
$futureDate = strtotime("+30 days");
echo "30 days from now: " . date("Y-m-d", $futureDate) . "<br>";
// Calculate age
$birthdate = strtotime("1990-05-15");
$age = date("Y") - date("Y", $birthdate);
echo "Age: " . $age . " years";
?>Output:
Days until New Year: 296
30 days from now: 2025-04-09
Age: 35 years
🔹 Common Date Formats
Here are frequently used date format patterns for different display needs. Mix and match format characters to create custom date strings.
<?php
$timestamp = time();
// Common formats
echo date("Y-m-d", $timestamp) . "<br>"; // 2025-03-10
echo date("d/m/Y", $timestamp) . "<br>"; // 10/03/2025
echo date("F j, Y", $timestamp) . "<br>"; // March 10, 2025
echo date("l, F j, Y", $timestamp) . "<br>"; // Monday, March 10, 2025
echo date("D, M j, Y", $timestamp) . "<br>"; // Mon, Mar 10, 2025
echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp) . "<br>"; // 2025-03-10 14:30:45
echo date("h:i A", $timestamp) . "<br>"; // 02:30 PM
?>Output:
2025-03-10
10/03/2025
March 10, 2025
Monday, March 10, 2025
Mon, Mar 10, 2025
2025-03-10 14:30:45
02:30 PM