[php] Converting a UNIX Timestamp to Formatted Date String

Using PHP, I want to convert UNIX timestamps to date strings similar to this: 2008-07-17T09:24:17Z

How do I convert a timestamp such as 1333699439 to 2008-07-17T09:24:17Z?

This question is related to php unix-timestamp

The answer is


Assuming you are using PHP5.3 then the modern way of handling dates is via the native DateTime class. To get the current time you can just call

$currentTime = new DateTime();

To create a DateTime object from a specific timestamp (i.e. not now)

$currentTime = DateTime::createFromFormat( 'U', $timestamp );

To get a formatted string you can then call

$formattedString = $currentTime->format( 'c' );

See the manual page here


I found the information in this conversation so helpful that I just wanted to add how I figured it out by using the timestamp from my MySQL database and a little PHP

 <?= date("Y-m-d\TH:i:s\+01:00",strtotime($column['loggedin'])) ?>

The output was: 2017-03-03T08:22:36+01:00

Thanks very much Stewe you answer was a eureka for me.


You can do like as.....

$originalDate = "1585876500";

echo $newDate = date("Y-m-d h:i:sa", date($originalDate));

$unixtime_to_date = date('jS F Y h:i:s A (T)', $unixtime);

This should work to.


<?php
$timestamp=1486830234542;
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $timestamp/1000);
?>

use date function date ( string $format [, int $timestamp = time() ] )

Use date('c',time()) as format to convert to ISO 8601 date (added in PHP 5) - 2012-04-06T12:45:47+05:30

use date("Y-m-d\TH:i:s\Z",1333699439) to get 2012-04-06T13:33:59Z

Here are some of the formats date function supports

<?php
$today = date("F j, Y, g:i a");                 // March 10, 2001, 5:16 pm
$today = date("m.d.y");                         // 03.10.01
$today = date("j, n, Y");                       // 10, 3, 2001
$today = date("Ymd");                           // 20010310
$today = date('h-i-s, j-m-y, it is w Day');     // 05-16-18, 10-03-01, 1631 1618 6 Satpm01
$today = date('\i\t \i\s \t\h\e jS \d\a\y.');   // it is the 10th day.
$today = date("D M j G:i:s T Y");               // Sat Mar 10 17:16:18 MST 2001
$today = date('H:m:s \m \i\s\ \m\o\n\t\h');     // 17:03:18 m is month
$today = date("H:i:s");                         // 17:16:18
?>

The DateTime class takes a string in the constructor. If you prefix the timestamp with a @-character you create a DateTime object with the timestamp. For formating use the 'c' format ... a predefined ISO 8601 compound format.

If could use the DateTime class like this ... set the right timezone or leave it out if you want a UTC time.

$dt = new DateTime('@1333699439');
$dt->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('America/New_York'));
echo $dt->format('c');

It is very important to set a default timezone to get the correct result

<?php
// set default timezone
date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Berlin');

// timestamp
$timestamp = 1307595105;

// output
echo date('d M Y H:i:s Z',$timestamp);
echo date('c',$timestamp);
?> 

Online conversion help: http://freeonlinetools24.com/timestamp