Epoch Converter and Date/Time in PHP

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• Get Epoch Seconds
• Convert from epoch to human readable date
• Convert from human readable date to epoch

Getting current epoch time

Time returns an integer with the current epoch:

    echo time(); // current Unix timestamp
    echo "\n\n";
    echo microtime(true); // microtime returns timestamp with microseconds (param: true=float, false=string)

                

Output:

    1550282567

    1550282567.0614

                

Convert from epoch to human readable date

Use the date function or the DateTime class.

    //1. Use the 'date' function.
    echo "Use the 'date' function.\n";
    $epoch = 1483228800;
    echo date('r', $epoch); // output as RFC 2822 date - returns local time
    echo "\n";
    echo gmdate('r', $epoch); // returns GMT/UTC time: Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

    echo "\n\n";
    //2. Use the DateTime class.
    echo "Use the DateTime class.\n";
    $epoch = 1483228800;
    $dt = new DateTime("@$epoch");  // convert UNIX timestamp to PHP DateTime
    echo $dt->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); // output = 2017-01-01 00:00:00


                

Output:

    Use the 'date' function.
    Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000
    Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

    Use the DateTime class.
    2017-01-01 00:00:00

                

In the examples above "r" and "Y-m-d H:i:s" are PHP date formats, other examples can be found here.

You can also use Carbon instead of DateTime. The Carbon documentation is here.

Convert from human readable date to epoch

1. strtotime parses most English language date texts to epoch/Unix Time.

2. The PHP DateTime class is easy to use.

3. mktime is not as easy to use but works on any PHP version.

    //1. Using 'strtotime':
    echo "Using 'strtotime': \n";
    echo strtotime("18 February 2019");
    // ... or ...
    echo "\n";
    echo strtotime("2019/2/18");
    // ... or ...
    echo "\n";
    echo strtotime("+10 days"); // 10 days from now
    echo "\n\n";

    //2. Using the DateTime class:
    echo "Using the DateTime class: \n";
    // object oriented
    $date = new DateTime('02/18/2019'); // format: MM/DD/YYYY
    echo $date->format('U'); //The date format 'U' converts the date to a UNIX timestamp.
    echo "\n";

    // or procedural
    $date = date_create('02/18/2019');
    echo date_format($date, 'U');
    echo "\n\n";

    //3. Using 'mktime':
    echo "Using 'mktime': \n";
    //mktime ( $hour, $minute, $second, $month, $day, $year );
    echo mktime(18, 29, 0, 2, 18, 2019);

                

Output:

    Using 'strtotime':
    1550448000
    1550448000
    1551396801

    Using the DateTime class:
    1550448000
    1550448000

    Using 'mktime':
    1550514540

                

Use date_default_timezone_set function to set your timezone.