PHP strtotime() Function
In this chapter you will learn:
- Definition for PHP strtotime() Function
- Syntax for PHP strtotime() Function
- Parameter for PHP strtotime() Function
- Return for PHP strtotime() Function
- Example - Use PHP strtotime() Function
Definition
The strtotime() function converts strings to a timestamp
Syntax
PHP strtotime() Function has the following syntax.
int strtotime ( string time [, int now] ) Parameter
time is the the string time to convert,
a second optional parameter that can be a relative timestamp.
Return
Parse about any English textual datetime description into a Unix timestamp
Example
Consider this script:
<?PHP/*from j ava 2 s .c om*/
print strtotime("22nd December 2012");
print strtotime("22 Dec. 1979 17:30");
print strtotime("2012/12/22");
?>
The integer value are the Unix timestamps for the dates we passed into strtotime().
You must use American-style dates (i.e., month, day, year) with strtotime().
If PHP is unable to convert your string into a timestamp, it will return -1.
<?PHP//from ja va2s.c o m
$mydate = strtotime("Christmas 2012");
if ($mydate == -1) {
print "Date conversion failed!";
} else {
print "Date conversion succeeded!";
}
?>
The optional second parameter sets a timestamp to for relative dates. The date string in the first parameter can be relative dates such as "Next Sunday," "20 days," or "7 year ago." In this situation, the second parameter sets the relative times.
For example, this next line of code will print the timestamp for the next Sunday:
<?PHP
print strtotime("Next Sunday");
?>
"2 days" after the current timestamp.
<?PHP
print strtotime("2 days", time());
?>
subtracts a year from a given timestamp.
<?PHP
print strtotime("1 year ago", 123456789);
?>
"August 25, 2012, 11:26 p.m." is not a legal string because of the comma.
Next chapter...
What you will learn in the next chapter:
- Description for PHP time() Function
- Syntax for PHP time() Function
- Example - gets the current time in epoch format