The PHP date() function is used to format a time or a date.
The PHP Date() Function
The PHP date() function formats a timestamp to a more readable date and time.
Syntax
| date(format,timestamp) | |
| Parameter | Description |
| format | Required. Specifies the format of the timestamp |
| timestamp | Optional. Specifies a timestamp. Default is the current date and time (as a timestamp) |
PHP Date – What is a Timestamp?
A timestamp is the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 GMT. This is also known as the Unix Timestamp.
PHP Date – Format the Date
The first parameter in the date() function specifies how to format the date/time. It uses letters to represent date and time formats. Here are some of the letters that can be used:
- d – The day of the month (01-31)
- m – The current month, as a number (01-12)
- Y – The current year in four digits
Other characters, like”/”, “.”, or “-” can also be inserted between the letters to add additional formatting:
| <?php echo date(“Y/m/d”); echo “<br />”; echo date(“Y.m.d”); echo “<br />”; echo date(“Y-m-d”); ?> |
The output of the code above could be something like this:
| 2006/07/11 2006.07.11 2006-07-11 |
PHP Date – Adding a Timestamp
The second parameter in the date() function specifies a timestamp. This parameter is optional. If you do not supply a timestamp, the current time will be used.
In our next example we will use the mktime() function to create a timestamp for tomorrow.
The mktime() function returns the Unix timestamp for a specified date.
Syntax
| mktime(hour,minute,second,month,day,year,is_dst) |
To go one day in the future we simply add one to the day argument of mktime():
| <?php $tomorrow = mktime(0,0,0,date(“m”),date(“d”)+1,date(“Y”)); echo “Tomorrow is “.date(“Y/m/d”, $tomorrow); ?> |
The output of the code above could be something like this:
| Tomorrow is 2006/07/12 |