How to get current date in php with time?

For the new PHP programmer might confuse why there are lot of method for to get current date and time and which one to use in their project.

1. date method (PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

This is the very common and very easiest way to get the date and time in php.

// set the default timezone to use. Available since PHP 5.1
date_default_timezone_set('UTC');


// Prints something like: Monday
echo date("l");

// Prints something like: Monday 8th of August 2005 03:12:46 PM
echo date('l jS \of F Y h:i:s A');

// Prints: July 1, 2000 is on a Saturday
echo "July 1, 2000 is on a " . date("l", mktime(0, 0, 0, 7, 1, 2000));

/* use the constants in the format parameter */
// prints something like: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:28:57 -0700
echo date(DATE_RFC2822);

// prints something like: 2000-07-01T00:00:00+00:00
echo date(DATE_ATOM, mktime(0, 0, 0, 7, 1, 2000));

You can learn more about it in here

2. DateTime class (PHP 5 >= 5.2.0, PHP 7)

when you want to use PHP with OOP, this is the best way to get date and time.

format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Specified date/time in the specified time zone.
$date = new DateTime('2000-01-01', new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Current date/time in your computer's time zone.
$date = new DateTime();
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Current date/time in the specified time zone.
$date = new DateTime(null, new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Using a UNIX timestamp.  Notice the result is in the UTC time zone.
$date = new DateTime('@946684800');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Non-existent values roll over.
$date = new DateTime('2000-02-30');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
?>

You can learn more about it in here

3. Carbon Date time package

if you are using Composer, Laravel, Symfony or any kinda framework this is the best way to get the date and time. Also this package extends DateTime class in php so you use all the method in Datetime class. This in-built in frameworks like laravel so you don't have to install it separately.

printf("Right now is %s", Carbon::now()->toDateTimeString());
printf("Right now in Vancouver is %s", Carbon::now('America/Vancouver')); // automatically converted to string
$tomorrow = Carbon::now()->addDay();
$lastWeek = Carbon::now()->subWeek();

// Carbon embed 823 languages:
echo $tomorrow->locale('fr')->isoFormat('dddd, MMMM Do YYYY, h:mm');
echo $tomorrow->locale('ar')->isoFormat('dddd, MMMM Do YYYY, h:mm');

$officialDate = Carbon::now()->toRfc2822String();

$howOldAmI = Carbon::createFromDate(1975, 5, 21)->age;

$noonTodayLondonTime = Carbon::createFromTime(12, 0, 0, 'Europe/London');

$internetWillBlowUpOn = Carbon::create(2038, 01, 19, 3, 14, 7, 'GMT');

if (Carbon::now()->isWeekend()) {
    echo 'Party!';
}
echo Carbon::now()->subMinutes(2)->diffForHumans(); // '2 minutes ago'

You can learn more about it in here

Hope this helps and if you know any other way to get the date and time feel free to edit the answer.

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

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 »

PHP Tip - Automatic Copyright Year

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 I insert current time in PHP?

How can I get current date in YYYY MM DD format in PHP?

What is date and time PHP?

How get fetch time from database in PHP?