PHP's date()
function is one of the most commonly used methods to deal with dates and times. It can format timestamps to the date and time format you want. It's not difficult to use, but some details are prone to errors.

Basic usage: Format the current time
The most basic usage of date()
is to output the current time. You just need to pass in a format string:

echo date("Ymd H:i:s");
The above line of code will output a result similar to this:
2025-04-05 14:30:45
in:

-
Y
is a four-digit year (such as 2025) -
m
is a double-digit month (01 to 12) -
d
is a double digit date (01 to 31) -
H
is a 24-hour hour (00 to 23) -
i
is minutes (00 to 59) -
s
is seconds (00 to 59)
You can freely combine these characters as needed, such as displaying only the year, month and date: date("Y/m/d")
.
How to handle the specified timestamp?
By default, date()
uses the server's current timestamp. If you want to format a specific time, you can pass in the second parameter:
echo date("Ymd", strtotime("2023-01-15"));
Here we use strtotime()
to convert the date string into a timestamp and then pass it to date()
.
Note:
strtotime()
supports many flexible writing methods, such as"next Monday"
,"yesterday"
or" 3 days"
, but sometimesfalse
is returned due to format problems. It is best to check whether it is legal before use.
Common format reference:
-
Ymd
→ 2025-04-05 -
l, F j, Y
→ Saturday, April 5, 2025 -
h:i A
→ 02:30 PM (12-hour system with AM/PM)
Notes related to time zones
PHP uses the server-set time zone by default, but you'd better set the time zone explicitly to avoid confusion. You can use date_default_timezone_set()
to specify:
date_default_timezone_set("Asia/Shanghai"); echo date("Ymd H:i:s");
The supported time zone list can be found in the official PHP documentation . Common ones include:
- Asia/Shanghai
- America/New_York
- Europe/London
If you find that the output time is inconsistent with your expectations, first confirm whether the time zone is set correctly.
Summarize
The date()
function itself is simple, but it becomes very practical after being set with timestamps, format strings and time zones. Mastering several commonly used formats and paying attention to time zone issues can deal with most scenarios. Basically that's it.
The above is the detailed content of How to use php date function?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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