PHP Date & Time - PHP Tutorial

Formatting the current time

PHP

<?php
  echo date("Y-m-d");           // 2026-08-22
  echo date("d/m/Y");           // 22/08/2026
  echo date("H:i:s");           // 14:30:05
  echo date("l, jS F Y");       // Saturday, 22nd August 2026

Common format characters:

Char	Means	Example
`Y` / `y`	4- / 2-digit year	2026 / 26
`m` / `n`	month, padded / not	08 / 8
`d` / `j`	day, padded / not	05 / 5
`H` / `h`	hour 24 / 12	14 / 02
`i`	minutes	30
`s`	seconds	05
`l` / `D`	weekday full / short	Saturday / Sat
`F` / `M`	month full / short	August / Aug
`A`	AM/PM	PM

Timezones

Set the timezone or you'll get UTC:

PHP

<?php
  date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Kathmandu');
  echo date('H:i');  // now correct for Nepal (UTC+5:45)

Timestamps

PHP

<?php
  $now = time();                      // seconds since 1970
  echo date("Y-m-d", $now);
  echo strtotime("2026-08-22");       // string → timestamp
  echo date("Y-m-d", strtotime("+1 week"));
  echo date("Y-m-d", strtotime("tomorrow"));
  echo date("Y-m-d", strtotime("last day of this month"));

The DateTime class (preferred)

For anything beyond simple formatting, use the object API — it handles timezones and arithmetic correctly:

PHP

<?php
  $d = new DateTime('2026-08-22', new DateTimeZone('Asia/Kathmandu'));
  echo $d->format('d M Y');            // 22 Aug 2026

  $d->modify('+10 days');
  echo $d->format('Y-m-d');            // 2026-09-01

Difference between two dates

PHP

<?php
  $start = new DateTime('2026-01-01');
  $end   = new DateTime('2026-08-22');

  $diff = $start->diff($end);
  echo $diff->days;            // total days
  echo $diff->format('%m months, %d days');

Immutable dates

DateTime::modify() changes the object in place, which causes bugs when the object is shared. DateTimeImmutable returns a new object instead — prefer it:

PHP

<?php
  $a = new DateTimeImmutable('2026-08-22');
  $b = $a->modify('+1 day');

  echo $a->format('Y-m-d'); // 2026-08-22 — unchanged
  echo $b->format('Y-m-d'); // 2026-08-23