PHP Date and TimePHP is a computer language usualy used alongside HTML to write websites. The PHP code normally runs on your computer and the HTML can run on the customers machine. One often overlooked advantage of PHP is that it is very good at handling dates, date-formats, timezones and other date/time complications. This page is intended for programmers with "some" knowledge of PHP and a who have date related programming problems.
PHP Date() Codes
The examples below relate to timezone = GMT, date = Sun 2 Jan 2028 and to time = 07:08:09 (8 minutes and 9 seconds past 7am)
| Code | Description Example result |
|---|---|
| a | am/pm am |
| A | AM/PM AM |
| B | Swatch Time (0-999) 297 |
| c | ISO 8601 date 2028-01-02T07:08:09+00:00 |
| d | Day of the month (01 - 31) 02 |
| D | Day (Sun - Sat) Sun |
| e | Timezone (GMT PST EST …) GMT |
| F | Month (January - December) January |
| g | Hour (1 - 12) 7 |
| G | Hour (0 - 23) 7 |
| h | Hour (01 - 12) 07 |
| H | Hour (00 - 23) 07 |
| i | Minute (00 - 59) 08 |
| I | Is Daylight Saving Time (1=true 0-false) 0 |
| j | Day of Month (1 - 31) 2 |
| l | Day (Monday - Sunday) Sunday |
| L | Is Leap Year (1=true 0=false) 0 |
| m | Month (01 - 12) 01 |
| M | Month (Jan - Dec) Jan |
| N | ISO Weekday (1=Monday 7=Sunday) 7 |
| n | Month (1-12) 1 |
| o | Year for ISO Week Number 2027 |
| O | GMT Offset hhmm +0000 |
| P | GMT Offset hh:mm +00:00 |
| p | GMT offset hh:mm or Z (Z=+00:00) Z |
| r | RFC2822/RFC5322 date Sun, 2 Jan 2028 07:08:09 +0000 |
| S | Day ordinal suffix (st, nd, rd or th) nd |
| s | Seconds (00 - 59) 09 |
| t | Days in month (28, 29, 30 or 31) 31 |
| T | Timezone (GMT, EST, PST, +02 … ) GMT |
| u | Microseconds (often returns 0) 000000 |
| U | Unix Epoch (Seconds since 1 Jan 1970) 1830409689 |
| v | Milliseconds (often returns 0) 000 |
| w | Day of Week (0=Sunday 6=Saturday) 0 |
| W | ISO Week Number 52 |
| X | Year (4 or 5 digits) (-9999 - +19999) +2028 |
| x | Year (4 or 5 digits) (-9999 - 9999 or +10000 - +19999) 2028 |
| Y | Year (4 or 5 digits) (-9999 - 19999 2028 |
| y | Year (2 digits) (00 - 99) 28 |
| z | Day of year (0 - 365) 1 |
| Z | Timezone UTC offset seconds (-43200 - 50400) 0 |
PHP getdate() Codes
| Element | Description Example result |
|---|---|
| seconds | Seconds (0 - 59) 9 |
| minutes | Minutes (0 - 59) 8 |
| hours | Hours (0 - 23) 7 |
| mday | Day (1 - 31) 2 |
| wday | Day (0=Sunday 6=Saturday) 0 |
| mon | Month (1-12) 1 |
| year | Year (0000 - 9999) 2028 |
| yday | Day of year (0 - 365) 1 |
| weekday | Day (Sunday - Saturday) Sunday |
| month | Month (January - December) January |
| 0 | Seconds since 1970 1830409689 |
When working with dates or times in PHP, it is important to ensure the test environment is using the same timezone as your live website server. Ignoring timezones can create strange time errors. These can suddenly appear, long after the page goes live. (Time/date timezone errors often appear on dates linked to the European or American Summer/Winter time boundaries.)
Adding the line
date_default_timezone_set('xxxxx');
to the start of your PHP script will ensure consistent behaviour.
(Replace xxxxx with an appropriate timezone. The timezone Europe/London correctly adjust for UK Wintertime(GMT) and Summertime (BST).
This site is based in the UK, hence I use line
date_default_timezone_set('Europe/London');
Timezones normally consist of three parts - The name of a continent or ocean (e.g. Europe), the separator character / and the
name of the large city within the timezone (e.g. London);
A few timezones use Continent/State/City or Continent/Country
PHP Timezones
The following list provides many of the timezone constants avaiable for selected PHP time/date commands including date_default_timezone_set('..........');
Africa/AbidjanAfrica/Accra
Africa/Addis_Ababa
Africa/Algiers
Africa/Asmara
Africa/Bamako
Africa/Bangui
Africa/Banjul
Africa/Bissau
Africa/Blantyre
Africa/Brazzaville
Africa/Bujumbura
Africa/Cairo
Africa/Casablanca
Africa/Ceuta
Africa/Conakry
Africa/Dakar
Africa/Dar_es_Salaam
Africa/Djibouti
Africa/Douala
Africa/El_Aaiun
Africa/Freetown
Africa/Gaborone
Africa/Harare
Africa/Johannesburg
Africa/Juba
Africa/Kampala
Africa/Khartoum
Africa/Kigali
Africa/Kinshasa
Africa/Lagos
Africa/Libreville
Africa/Lome
Africa/Luanda
Africa/Lubumbashi
Africa/Lusaka
Africa/Malabo
Africa/Maputo
Africa/Maseru
Africa/Mbabane
Africa/Mogadishu
Africa/Monrovia
Africa/Nairobi
Africa/Ndjamena
Africa/Niamey
Africa/Nouakchott
Africa/Ouagadougou
Africa/Porto-Novo
Africa/Sao_Tome
Africa/Tripoli
Africa/Tunis
Africa/Windhoek
America/Adak
America/Anchorage
America/Anguilla
America/Antigua
America/Araguaina
America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires
America/Argentina/Catamarca
America/Argentina/Cordoba
America/Argentina/Jujuy
America/Argentina/La_Rioja
America/Argentina/Mendoza
America/Argentina/Rio_Gallegos
America/Argentina/Salta
America/Argentina/San_Juan
America/Argentina/San_Luis
America/Argentina/Tucuman
America/Argentina/Ushuaia
America/Aruba
America/Asuncion
America/Atikokan
America/Bahia
America/Bahia_Banderas
America/Barbados
America/Belem
America/Belize
America/Blanc-Sablon
America/Boa_Vista
America/Bogota
America/Boise
America/Cambridge_Bay
America/Campo_Grande
America/Cancun
America/Caracas
America/Cayenne
America/Cayman
America/Chicago
America/Chihuahua
America/Ciudad_Juarez
America/Costa_Rica
America/Creston
America/Cuiaba
America/Curacao
America/Danmarkshavn
America/Dawson
America/Dawson_Creek
America/Denver
America/Detroit
America/Dominica
America/Edmonton
America/Eirunepe
America/El_Salvador
America/Fort_Nelson
America/Fortaleza
America/Glace_Bay
America/Goose_Bay
America/Grand_Turk
America/Grenada
America/Guadeloupe
America/Guatemala
America/Guayaquil
America/Guyana
America/Halifax
America/Havana
America/Hermosillo
America/Indiana/Indianapolis
America/Indiana/Knox
America/Indiana/Marengo
America/Indiana/Petersburg
America/Indiana/Tell_City
America/Indiana/Vevay
America/Indiana/Vincennes
America/Indiana/Winamac
America/Inuvik
America/Iqaluit
America/Jamaica
America/Juneau
America/Kentucky/Louisville
America/Kentucky/Monticello
America/Kralendijk
America/La_Paz
America/Lima
America/Los_Angeles
America/Lower_Princes
America/Maceio
America/Managua
America/Manaus
America/Marigot
America/Martinique
America/Mazatlan
America/Menominee
America/Merida
America/Metlakatla
America/Mexico_City
America/Miquelon
America/Moncton
America/Monterrey
America/Montevideo
America/Montserrat
America/Nassau
America/New_York
America/Nome
America/Noronha
America/North_Dakota/Beulah
America/North_Dakota/Center
America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
America/Nuuk
America/Ojinaga
America/Panama
America/Paramaribo
America/Phoenix
America/Port_of_Spain
America/Port-au-Prince
America/Porto_Velho
America/Puerto_Rico
America/Punta_Arenas
America/Rankin_Inlet
America/Recife
America/Regina
America/Resolute
America/Rio_Branco
America/Santarem
America/Santiago
America/Santo_Domingo
America/Sao_Paulo
America/Scoresbysund
America/Sitka
America/St_Barthelemy
America/St_Johns
America/St_Kitts
America/St_Lucia
America/St_Thomas
America/St_Vincent
America/Swift_Current
America/Tegucigalpa
America/Thule
America/Tijuana
America/Toronto
America/Tortola
America/Vancouver
America/Whitehorse
America/Winnipeg
America/Yakutat
Antarctica/Casey
Antarctica/Davis
Antarctica/DumontDUrville
Antarctica/Macquarie
Antarctica/Mawson
Antarctica/McMurdo
Antarctica/Palmer
Antarctica/Rothera
Antarctica/Syowa
Antarctica/Troll
Antarctica/Vostok
Arctic/Longyearbyen
Asia/Aden
Asia/Almaty
Asia/Amman
Asia/Anadyr
Asia/Aqtau
Asia/Aqtobe
Asia/Ashgabat
Asia/Atyrau
Asia/Baghdad
Asia/Bahrain
Asia/Baku
Asia/Bangkok
Asia/Barnaul
Asia/Beirut
Asia/Bishkek
Asia/Brunei
Asia/Chita
Asia/Choibalsan
Asia/Colombo
Asia/Damascus
Asia/Dhaka
Asia/Dili
Asia/Dubai
Asia/Dushanbe
Asia/Famagusta
Asia/Gaza
Asia/Hebron
Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
Asia/Hong_Kong
Asia/Hovd
Asia/Irkutsk
Asia/Jakarta
Asia/Jayapura
Asia/Jerusalem
Asia/Kabul
Asia/Kamchatka
Asia/Karachi
Asia/Kathmandu
Asia/Khandyga
Asia/Kolkata
Asia/Krasnoyarsk
Asia/Kuala_Lumpur
Asia/Kuching
Asia/Kuwait
Asia/Macau
Asia/Magadan
Asia/Makassar
Asia/Manila
Asia/Muscat
Asia/Nicosia
Asia/Novokuznetsk
Asia/Novosibirsk
Asia/Omsk
Asia/Oral
Asia/Phnom_Penh
Asia/Pontianak
Asia/Pyongyang
Asia/Qatar
Asia/Qostanay
Asia/Qyzylorda
Asia/Riyadh
Asia/Sakhalin
Asia/Samarkand
Asia/Seoul
Asia/Shanghai
Asia/Singapore
Asia/Srednekolymsk
Asia/Taipei
Asia/Tashkent
Asia/Tbilisi
Asia/Tehran
Asia/Thimphu
Asia/Tokyo
Asia/Tomsk
Asia/Ulaanbaatar
Asia/Urumqi
Asia/Ust-Nera
Asia/Vientiane
Asia/Vladivostok
Asia/Yakutsk
Asia/Yangon
Asia/Yekaterinburg
Asia/Yerevan
Atlantic/Azores
Atlantic/Bermuda
Atlantic/Canary
Atlantic/Cape_Verde
Atlantic/Faroe
Atlantic/Madeira
Atlantic/Reykjavik
Atlantic/South_Georgia
Atlantic/St_Helena
Atlantic/Stanley
Australia/Adelaide
Australia/Brisbane
Australia/Broken_Hill
Australia/Darwin
Australia/Eucla
Australia/Hobart
Australia/Lindeman
Australia/Lord_Howe
Australia/Melbourne
Australia/Perth
Australia/Sydney
Europe/Amsterdam
Europe/Andorra
Europe/Astrakhan
Europe/Athens
Europe/Belgrade
Europe/Berlin
Europe/Bratislava
Europe/Brussels
Europe/Bucharest
Europe/Budapest
Europe/Busingen
Europe/Chisinau
Europe/Copenhagen
Europe/Dublin
Europe/Gibraltar
Europe/Guernsey
Europe/Helsinki
Europe/Isle_of_Man
Europe/Istanbul
Europe/Jersey
Europe/Kaliningrad
Europe/Kirov
Europe/Kyiv
Europe/Lisbon
Europe/Ljubljana
Europe/London
Europe/Luxembourg
Europe/Madrid
Europe/Malta
Europe/Mariehamn
Europe/Minsk
Europe/Monaco
Europe/Moscow
Europe/Oslo
Europe/Paris
Europe/Podgorica
Europe/Prague
Europe/Riga
Europe/Rome
Europe/Samara
Europe/San_Marino
Europe/Sarajevo
Europe/Saratov
Europe/Simferopol
Europe/Skopje
Europe/Sofia
Europe/Stockholm
Europe/Tallinn
Europe/Tirane
Europe/Ulyanovsk
Europe/Vaduz
Europe/Vatican
Europe/Vienna
Europe/Vilnius
Europe/Volgograd
Europe/Warsaw
Europe/Zagreb
Europe/Zurich
Indian/Antananarivo
Indian/Chagos
Indian/Christmas
Indian/Cocos
Indian/Comoro
Indian/Kerguelen
Indian/Mahe
Indian/Maldives
Indian/Mauritius
Indian/Mayotte
Indian/Reunion
Pacific/Apia
Pacific/Auckland
Pacific/Bougainville
Pacific/Chatham
Pacific/Chuuk
Pacific/Easter
Pacific/Efate
Pacific/Fakaofo
Pacific/Fiji
Pacific/Funafuti
Pacific/Galapagos
Pacific/Gambier
Pacific/Guadalcanal
Pacific/Guam
Pacific/Honolulu
Pacific/Kanton
Pacific/Kiritimati
Pacific/Kosrae
Pacific/Kwajalein
Pacific/Majuro
Pacific/Marquesas
Pacific/Midway
Pacific/Nauru
Pacific/Niue
Pacific/Norfolk
Pacific/Noumea
Pacific/Pago_Pago
Pacific/Palau
Pacific/Pitcairn
Pacific/Pohnpei
Pacific/Port_Moresby
Pacific/Rarotonga
Pacific/Saipan
Pacific/Tahiti
Pacific/Tarawa
Pacific/Tongatapu
Pacific/Wake
Pacific/Wallis
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