Getting the Unix timestamp corresponding to dates in PHP can be implemented in a variety of ways. Common methods include: 1. Use the strtotime() function to be suitable for date strings in common formats, which are concise but sensitive to formats; 2. Use DateTime::createFromFormat() to parse date strings in fixed specific formats to improve accuracy; 3. When processing dates with time zone information, you can parse them through the DateTime class in combination with getTimestamp() or strtotime(), and the time zone can be adjusted uniformly. Select the appropriate method according to the scene and pay attention to input verification to avoid errors.
Getting the Unix timestamp corresponding to the date is a common operation in PHP and the method is relatively simple. PHP provides several functions to implement this function, the most commonly used are strtotime()
and DateTime
classes.

The following are several practical methods that are suitable for needs in different scenarios.

Use the strtotime() function
This is the most direct and commonly used method for converting readable dates to Unix timestamps:
$dateString = "2025-04-05"; $timestamp = strtotime($dateString);
- Advantages: The writing is concise and suitable for common formats.
- Note: If the incoming date format is not standardized or not recognized, the return value will be
false
.
Some common supported formats include:

-
"2025-04-05"
-
"April 5, 2025"
-
"2025/04/05"
- Even those with time are like
"2025-04-05 14:30:00"
If you cannot control the input format, it is recommended to use it with DateTime::createFromFormat()
for more secure use.
Use the DateTime class to handle more complex date formats
When you need to parse date strings in a specific format (such as "05-Apr-2025"
), it is recommended to use DateTime::createFromFormat()
:
$dateString = "05-Apr-2025"; $date = DateTime::createFromFormat('dM-Y', $dateString); if ($date) { echo $date->getTimestamp(); }
- This method is more accurate and avoids the problems caused by confusion in formats.
- If you are dealing with data files in fixed format or API returns data, this writing method is more reliable.
Processing time strings with time zones
If your date string contains time zone information, for example ISO8601 format:
$dateString = "2025-04-05T12:00:00 08:00"; $timestamp = strtotime($dateString); // Valid// Or use DateTime $date = new DateTime($dateString); echo $date->getTimestamp();
- Both of the above methods can correctly parse dates with time zones.
- If you need to uniformly compute into a certain time zone, you can call
setTimezone()
method after creating the object.
In general, strtotime()
is enough for simple scenarios; when encountering complex formats or requiring higher precision, it is more appropriate to use DateTime
. Pay attention to basic verification of the input to prevent errors caused by invalid format.
Basically that's it.
The above is the detailed content of php get unix timestamp from date. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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