get UTC time in PHP

Question

How can I get UTC/GMT +/- time stamp using PHP's date() function? For example, if I try

date("Y-m-d H:i:s", time());

I will get Unix time stamp; but I need to get UTC/GMT time stamp with string GMT/UTC+/-0400 or GMT/UTC+/-1000 based on local timings.

score 129 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 28 '11 at 11:50

129

Using gmdate will always return a GMT date. Syntax is same as for date.

answered Dec 28 '11 at 11:50

nikc.org

15,738
6
46
82

12

@sanmai: a Unix timestamp is by definition always UTC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time – nikc.org Jul 20 '15 at 08:20
1

@nikc.org: The problem is that gmdate("U"), returns same as time() which is not UTC timestamp if your server system timezone is different. The only way i was able to get real UTC based timestamp was strtotime(gmdate("M d Y H:i:s")), which is different that gmdate("U"), when your server system timezone is different than UTC – bksi Feb 23 '16 at 19:29
@bksi I'm unable to repeat your described behaviour. (My machine is not on GMT and my UNIX timestamps are correct. Also `gmdate("U") == time()`.) Sounds like potentially buggy behaviour. Double check and file a bug with the PHP project. – nikc.org Feb 24 '16 at 05:59
I used simple php script to test the scenario: echo time()." === ".strtotime(gmdate("M d Y H:i:s"))." Timezone: ".date("Z")."\n"; ?> When i ran it i get this result: 1456342082 === 1456338482 Timezone: 3600 The result of shell command date is: Wed Feb 24 20:28:11 CET 2016 – bksi Feb 24 '16 at 19:29
2

@bksi - Perhaps you're confusing internal representation of datetime with external representation of datetime? time w/o a zone specifier vs time with a zone specifier? As nikc (and the documentation) says, `time()` returns "number of seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)". Note `GMT`. The fact that by default your system *converts* this to your timezone for display, is a user convenience. Internally, its always GMT. – ToolmakerSteve Apr 17 '19 at 12:09

Shankar Narayana Damodaran · Answer 2 · 2015-03-18T15:10:41.353

110

A simple gmdate() will suffice

<?php
print gmdate("Y-m-d\TH:i:s\Z");

edited Mar 18 '15 at 15:10

answered Sep 15 '13 at 04:08

Shankar Narayana Damodaran

66,874
43
94
124

Jessedc · Answer 3 · 2018-05-19T08:23:38.330

63

As previously answered here, since PHP 5.2.0 you can use the DateTime class and specify the UTC timezone with an instance of DateTimeZone.

The DateTime __construct() documentation suggests passing "now" as the first parameter when creating a DateTime instance and specifying a timezone to get the current time.

$date_utc = new \DateTime("now", new \DateTimeZone("UTC"));

echo $date_utc->format(\DateTime::RFC850); # Saturday, 18-Apr-15 03:23:46 UTC

edited May 19 '18 at 08:23

answered Apr 18 '15 at 03:27

Jessedc

11,989
3
49
63

3

The DateTime __construct() documentation no longer suggests omitting the first parameter to get the current time. It now says you should use a string of 'now'. – PaulSkinner May 18 '18 at 11:53
1

Thanks @PaulSkinner, I have amended the answer. – Jessedc May 19 '18 at 08:24
Thanks, what is the purposes of the backslashes before `DateTime`? Running it myself, it seems to work just fine without them. – Snow Feb 28 '19 at 05:18
1

@Snow If this code is inserted into namespaced code, let's say your file has a `namespace A` declaration at the top, PHP will assume `DateTime` to refer to `A\DateTime`, which is wrong. Adding the backslash fixes the issue. It's a good habit to take even if you don't use namespaces yet, in my opinion. – sylbru Mar 02 '19 at 14:59

score 35 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 28 '11 at 19:30

35

$time = time();
$check = $time+date("Z",$time);
echo strftime("%B %d, %Y @ %H:%M:%S UTC", $check);

edited Dec 28 '11 at 19:30

Pops

29,209
36
130
150

answered Dec 28 '11 at 11:49

Sudhir Bastakoti

97,363
15
155
158

StefansArya · Answer 5 · 2019-04-26T03:33:21.747

24

Obtaining UTC date

gmdate("Y-m-d H:i:s");

Obtaining UTC timestamp

time();

The result will not be different even you have date_default_timezone_set on your code.

edited Apr 26 '19 at 03:33

answered Jul 26 '18 at 08:41

StefansArya

2,494
3
21
23

@زياد Thanks for the correction, I have modified my answer – StefansArya Apr 26 '19 at 03:34
I thought that gmdate() returns GMT and not UTC. "Identical to the date() function except that the time returned is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)". Am I missing something? Do these come out equivalent? – Jordan Aug 16 '19 at 21:46
3

@Jordan In practice UTC and GMT represent the same time. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48942916/difference-between-utc-and-gmt – martti Aug 24 '19 at 19:40
1

Of course `time()` returns an integer, while `gmdate` returns a formatted string. So they are only "not different" if you are careful how you use them. Technically, that `gmdate` syntax is identical to `gmdate("Y-m-d H:i:s", time());` That is, by default, the time which is formatted is `time()`. – ToolmakerSteve Jun 08 '21 at 17:01

score 16 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 10 '16 at 06:51

16

date("Y-m-d H:i:s", time() - date("Z"))

answered Aug 10 '16 at 06:51

Allanrbo

2,188
1
22
26

score 13 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 28 '11 at 11:53

13

Other than calling gmdate you can also put this code before your rest of the code:

<?php
date_default_timezone_set("UTC");
?>

That will make rest of your date/time related calls to use GMT/UTC timezone.

answered Dec 28 '11 at 11:53

anubhava

713,503
59
514
593

Not anymore in latest versions of PHP. – Khom Nazid Jun 08 '19 at 04:21
2

@KhomNazid "UTC" as a parameter is still valid. https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.date-default-timezone-set.php#refsect1-function.date-default-timezone-set-parameters – Harikrishna Nov 22 '19 at 05:10

score 6 · Answer 8 · edited Jun 15 '13 at 06:01

6

You can use gmmktime function without arguments to obtain the current UTC timestamp:

$time = gmmktime();
echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $time);

gmmktime will only work if your server time is using UTC. For example, my server is set to US/Pacific. the listed function above echos back Pacific time.

edited Jun 15 '13 at 06:01

user2488231

1
2

answered Dec 28 '11 at 12:14

ocirocir

2,933
1
21
32

4

gmmktime() is deprecated – Jonny Jul 24 '19 at 16:46

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 12 '18 at 16:30

with string GMT/UTC +/-0400 or GMT/UTC +/-1000 based on local timings

Your custom format is just missing O to give you the timezone offsets from local time.

Difference to Greenwich time (GMT) in hours Example: +0200

date_default_timezone_set('America/La_Paz');
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s O');

2018-01-12 12:10:11 -0400

However, for maximized portability/interoperability, I would recommend using the ISO8601 date format c

date_default_timezone_set('America/La_Paz');
echo date('c');

2018-01-12T12:10:11-04:00

date_default_timezone_set('Australia/Brisbane');
echo date('c');

2018-01-13T02:10:11+10:00

You can use also gmdate and the timezone offset string will always be +00:00

date_default_timezone_set('America/La_Paz');
echo gmdate('c');

2018-01-12T16:10:11+00:00

date_default_timezone_set('Australia/Brisbane');
echo gmdate('c');

2018-01-12T16:10:11+00:00

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited Mar 24 '16 at 16:09

You can use following to get UTC time:

date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Calcutta');

$current_date = date("Y/m/d g:i A");

$ist_date = DateTime::createFromFormat(
                        '"Y/m/d g:i A"',
                        $current_date,
                        new DateTimeZone('Asia/Calcutta')
                    );

$utc_date = clone $ist_date;
$utc_date->setTimeZone(new DateTimeZone('UTC'));

echo 'UTC:  ' . $utc_date->format('Y-m-d g:i A');

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered May 24 '16 at 14:16

/**
     * Converts a local Unix timestamp to GMT
     *
     * @param   int Unix timestamp
     * @return  int
     */
    function local_to_gmt($time = '')
    {
        if ($time === '')
        {
            $time = time();
        }

        return mktime(
            gmdate('G', $time),
            gmdate('i', $time),
            gmdate('s', $time),
            gmdate('n', $time),
            gmdate('j', $time),
            gmdate('Y', $time)
        );
    }

score 0 · Answer 12 · edited Oct 21 '21 at 19:56

0

You'd like to use gmdate method to get GMT date.

gmdate("Y-m-d H:i:s");

gmdate date-formats resemble those in the date() method.

edited Oct 21 '21 at 19:56

quinny

564
1
5
23

answered Oct 21 '21 at 14:55

ZhaoRachi

9
6

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Dec 01 '21 at 10:45

0

$code->created_at->setTimezone('UTC')

here $code->created_at = Asia/Dhaka Time.

answered Dec 01 '21 at 10:45

JOY KUMAR PAL

91
1
5

score -1 · Answer 14 · answered Nov 27 '19 at 12:14

-1

Below find the PHP code to get current UTC(Coordinated Universal Time) time

<?php
// Prints the day
echo gmdate("l") . "<br>";

// Prints the day, date, month, year, time, AM or PM
echo gmdate("l jS \of F Y h:i:s A");
?>

answered Nov 27 '19 at 12:14

Shivasagar

185
1
2

1

The OP states: "I need to get UTC/GMT time stamp with string GMT/UTC+/-0400", and if I run the given code, the output does not contain this. Also, the OP stated that he wanted to use `date` for this, which your codes does not contain either. – Nico Haase Jun 01 '21 at 09:34

get UTC time in PHP

14 Answers14

Linked

Related