PHP 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:

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

$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