Write a php program to display current date time and day

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    The purpose of the article is to get the current Date and Time in PHP. It is performed by using a simple in-built PHP function date(). The Date is an inbuilt function used to format the timestamp. The computer stores date and time in UNIX timestamp. This time is measured as a number of seconds since Jan 1, 1970. As this is difficult for humans to read, PHP converts timestamps to format in such a way that it is readable and more understandable to humans.  

    Syntax:  

    date('d-m-y h:i:s');

    Parameters :  The date() have different parameters. Each parameter represents some meaningful unit. 

    1. d: It represents the day of the month which has two digits with leading zeros (01 or 31)
    2. m: It represents month in numbers with leading zeros (01 or 1)
    3. y: It represents a year in two digits (08 or 14).
    4. h: It represents the hour of the day in two digits with leading zeros (01 or 1)
    5. I: It represents the minute in the current time zone.
    6. s: It represents the number of seconds in the current timezone.

    Example 1: 

    PHP

    echo "Current date and time is :"

    $myDate = date("d-m-y h:i:s");

    echo $myDate

    ?> 

    Output:

    Current date and time is :03-01-21 04:49:52

    Example 2: The following demonstrates other date() functions format which can be used by the developer as per the need.

    PHP

    Other ways of using date() function

    echo "Date in Year.Month.Day format is: " 

        . date("Y.m.d") . "
    "
    ;

    echo "Date in Year-Month-day format is: " 

        . date("Y-m-d") . "
    "
    ;

    echo "Date in Year/Month/day format is: " 

        . date("Y/m/d") . "
    "
    ;

    ?>

    Output:

    Write a php program to display current date time and day



    The PHP date() function is used to format a date and/or a time.


    The PHP Date() Function

    The PHP date() function formats a timestamp to a more readable date and time.

    Syntax

    ParameterDescription
    format Required. Specifies the format of the timestamp
    timestamp Optional. Specifies a timestamp. Default is the current date and time

    A timestamp is a sequence of characters, denoting the date and/or time at which a certain event occurred.


    Get a Date

    The required format parameter of the date() function specifies how to format the date (or time).

    Here are some characters that are commonly used for dates:

    • d - Represents the day of the month (01 to 31)
    • m - Represents a month (01 to 12)
    • Y - Represents a year (in four digits)
    • l (lowercase 'L') - Represents the day of the week

    Other characters, like"/", ".", or "-" can also be inserted between the characters to add additional formatting.

    The example below formats today's date in three different ways:

    Example

    echo "Today is " . date("Y/m/d") . "
    ";
    echo "Today is " . date("Y.m.d") . "
    ";
    echo "Today is " . date("Y-m-d") . "
    ";
    echo "Today is " . date("l");
    ?>

    Try it Yourself »



    Use the date() function to automatically update the copyright year on your website:


    Get a Time

    Here are some characters that are commonly used for times:

    • H - 24-hour format of an hour (00 to 23)
    • h - 12-hour format of an hour with leading zeros (01 to 12)
    • i - Minutes with leading zeros (00 to 59)
    • s - Seconds with leading zeros (00 to 59)
    • a - Lowercase Ante meridiem and Post meridiem (am or pm)

    The example below outputs the current time in the specified format:

    Note that the PHP date() function will return the current date/time of the server!


    Get Your Time Zone

    If the time you got back from the code is not correct, it's probably because your server is in another country or set up for a different timezone.

    So, if you need the time to be correct according to a specific location, you can set the timezone you want to use.

    The example below sets the timezone to "America/New_York", then outputs the current time in the specified format:

    Example

    date_default_timezone_set("America/New_York");
    echo "The time is " . date("h:i:sa");
    ?>

    Try it Yourself »


    Create a Date With mktime()

    The optional timestamp parameter in the date() function specifies a timestamp. If omitted, the current date and time will be used (as in the examples above).

    The PHP mktime() function returns the Unix timestamp for a date. The Unix timestamp contains the number of seconds between the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT) and the time specified.

    Syntax

    mktime(hour, minute, second, month, day, year)

    The example below creates a date and time with the date() function from a number of parameters in the mktime() function:

    Example

    $d=mktime(11, 14, 54, 8, 12, 2014);
    echo "Created date is " . date("Y-m-d h:i:sa", $d);
    ?>

    Try it Yourself »


    Create a Date From a String With strtotime()

    The PHP strtotime() function is used to convert a human readable date string into a Unix timestamp (the number of seconds since January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT).

    Syntax

    The example below creates a date and time from the strtotime() function:

    Example

    $d=strtotime("10:30pm April 15 2014");
    echo "Created date is " . date("Y-m-d h:i:sa", $d);
    ?>

    Try it Yourself »

    PHP is quite clever about converting a string to a date, so you can put in various values:

    Example

    $d=strtotime("tomorrow");
    echo date("Y-m-d h:i:sa", $d) . "
    ";

    $d=strtotime("next Saturday");
    echo date("Y-m-d h:i:sa", $d) . "
    ";

    $d=strtotime("+3 Months");
    echo date("Y-m-d h:i:sa", $d) . "
    ";
    ?>

    Try it Yourself »

    However, strtotime() is not perfect, so remember to check the strings you put in there.


    More Date Examples

    The example below outputs the dates for the next six Saturdays:

    Example

    $startdate = strtotime("Saturday");
    $enddate = strtotime("+6 weeks", $startdate);

    while ($startdate < $enddate) {
      echo date("M d", $startdate) . "
    ";
      $startdate = strtotime("+1 week", $startdate);
    }
    ?>

    Try it Yourself »

    The example below outputs the number of days until 4th of July:

    Example

    $d1=strtotime("July 04");
    $d2=ceil(($d1-time())/60/60/24);
    echo "There are " . $d2 ." days until 4th of July.";
    ?>

    Try it Yourself »


    Complete PHP Date Reference

    For a complete reference of all date functions, go to our complete PHP Date Reference.

    The reference contains a brief description, and examples of use, for each function!


    PHP Exercises



    How can get current date and day in PHP?

    Answer: Use the PHP date() Function You can simply use the PHP date() function to get the current data and time in various format, for example, date('d-m-y h:i:s') , date('d/m/y H:i:s') , and so on.

    How can I insert current time in PHP?

    Examples: DATE: YYYY-MM-DD Example: 2005-12-26 DATETIME: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS Example: 2005-12-26 23:50:30 TIMESTAMP: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:SS Example: 2005-12-26 23:50:30 YEAR: YYYY or YY..
    MySQL query to create DataBase: ... .
    Example 1: PHP program to Create database and table. ... .
    Example 2: PHP program to insert date into the table..

    How can I get current date in PHP string?

    Doing this : $date = date("D M d, Y G:i"); You'll have the current date in the $date variable, as a string -- no need for any additional operation.

    How can I get current date and time in MySQL and PHP?

    MySQL SYSDATE() returns the current date and time in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. uuuuuu format depending on the context of the function. MySQL TIME_FORMAT() converts a time in a formatted string using the format specifiers. MySQL TIME_TO_SEC() converts a time value in to seconds.